Saving the World Through Watching?
by ivyflightislistening
Summary: After MAX: The Flock are chilling, when Max's Voice tells her to go back to Dr. M's, they head, only to find Jeb there with a helpful hint for saving the world. The whole group participates with varied reactions. FAX, EGGY, action. just yell fire dot org.
1. What's a little laughter?

**Yes, if my sister ever finds out that I'm writing a fan fiction, let alone a Maximum Ride fan fiction, she will most likely ban me from our room until I abandon my 'nerdy' habits. But for the sake of my sanity (next MR book doesn't come out until 2010, what will I do????) And the story running through my head that will not allow me to concentrate on exams, I'm writing it down anyone. Besides, being a so-called 'nerd' is great. No standards to live up to! Haha, anyway, on with my plot line. Story line. Whatever you'd like to call it.**

**So Max and the Flock are roughing it again, not because anyone's chasing them really, but they're tired of humanity for the time being after the whole Mr. Chu incident and going throughh all that BS, oh sorry, BSSCT stuff in MAX. They're having fun just living like they want to again, until the Voice, speaking for Jeb, intrudes upon Max's privacy again and suggests that it might be helpful in the whole saving the world quest to get their butts on over to Dr. M's. Jeb has a surprise for everyone, including himself, Ella, her mom, Max, Fang, and the rest of the Flock. In the form of those wonderful things our parents could probably blackmail us with later in life... a version of home videos. You know the ones where you're running around in your underwear through a sprinkler at age six? That kind, just a little different, because for the Flock, growing up wasn't a sprinkler activity. **

**Okay, maybe not the best summary, but I have some really good ideas for it, including: Iggy explaining to the Martinez's why Max and Fang are so close, films from the dreaded School, not to mention the E-shaped house with reactions involving tears, meltdowns, chaos, and sighs of 'auuhh, wasn't that just the cutest dang thing you ever did see?'**

**JANUARY 2010 UPDATE: Hey, guys! Seems ages ago that I started this, I'm still going strong (sequel on the horizon…) but anyway, I'm editing the chapters because with the first fifteen or so, I was just so pumped to get them up here that I didn't really read over them so there are a few spelling errors, odd phrases, or things I'd just like to change. Hope you still give it a try, I've had a lot of fun out here.**

** -ivyflightislistening**

**Chapter One:**

Oh God, I suppose none of you would never really know unless there are other mutant bird kids out there reading this or some mini genius's who constructed their own wings, but nearly nothing can beat flying. It was warm, the time of year between spring and summer when everything's alive and hopping.

Really, I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm turning into Robert Frost or something. Next I'll be speaking in Shakespearian with all the 'thou, fare the well' and stuff or writing sonnets in my spare time.

_I bet you could write a sonnet, Max._

Ahh, Angel. As if two voices in my head weren't enough. Yes, she was cute. Yes, she was the best six-sorry, seven year old in the entire world, but no, I didn't want her in my head. Nor did I want her commenting on whether I could write a freakin' sonnet.

_Sorry._ I immediately felt a bit apologetic for what I'd thought, and angled my wings so I could fly down to her. I ruffled her hair, laughing quietly.

_Don't worry about it, Sweetie_. I was in a good mood, not ready to tear her head off like usual after listening to my thoughts. _That would be great though, it'd pay for a lot of donuts. _

Angel laughed. "Yeah, you could call it Sonnets of a Mutant: Exploring the Life of a Bird Kid." Now remember this conversation had all been inside our heads, as strange as that sounds, so she had not only managed to catch Fang, Iggy, Nudge and the Gasman's attention, but Total's, as well. His head shot out of the blue backpack on Nudge's back, brown eyes alight.

I seriously do worry myself.

"What?" Iggy snickered. "Who's writing sonnets? Not Max? I always knew we should police those books of hers." I whapped him with my wing, ignoring his protests of "don't pick on the blind bird kid!"

"This is not a matter of silliness!" Total huffed, glaring at everyone, each of us currently in a state of hysterics. Well, except Fang, but he was laughing quietly, his own kind of hysterics.

"Oh?" I gasped, clutching my stomach, now hurting slightly after all the food I had eaten that morning. Pancake buffets, what a blessing. Screw pools, every person should have their own pancake buffet.

"It's true!" The dog insisted from Nudge's back, struggling out to flap his own meager wings before he fell. "Sonnets, what an art! There is no better feeling of _amor_, love. Expressing ones feelings has never been so beautiful-"

Iggy snickered evilly, glancing from Fang to myself. "In that case," he announced, "Fang and Max need a sonnet all to themselves. How's it go? 'Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?'"

"That is Romeo and Juliet, not a sonnet!" Total barked, seething and trying to chase after Iggy, who was currently being tagged by me and Fang.

"Is that so?" I hissed into his oh-so sensitive ear, "you should write one for Ella!"

That shut him up real well. Now, except for the occasional giggle, Total still fuming (now in Iggy's arms), and Nudge singing some Taylor Swift song, it was pretty quiet up in the air. Which I really did love. I did a loop-the-loop, just happy to be there.

"So," I had barely noticed Fang, dark and silent glide up to lead with me with a smirk on his face. "Where did this sonnet crap get started?"

I punched him lightly on the shoulder, more exasperated than annoyed and shook my head.

"I don't want to know," he chuckled, "do I?"

"The more important question," I asked in all seriousness, "is where did Ig learn Shakespeare?"

Incase you didn't know, the sun is nothing compared to one of Fang's grins. One of Fang's smirks cast the whole sun in shadow, and even I, Maximum Ride, supposed savior of the world can be blown away by something like that. My brain lost it's train of thought, and I'm pretty sure I returned a sloppy, goofy smile right back.. Fang laughed again, wrapping me in a quick hug before spiraling a safe flying distance away again. However, since we were so in tune with one another, this was about three feet. My heartbeat stuttered at this close proximity...

_Maximum, I know you're thoughts are pretty occupied right now, but I've got something for you._

Well, that ended my happy moment. I pulled a face, rolling my eyes as Fang's eyes suddenly widened in concern. He mouthed 'Voice?' and I nodded.

_You know,_ I thought, bitingly sarcastic,_ it's so great to know that no matter what I'll never truly be alone. Seriously. Bathroom stalls for one, I wish people would come with me in there, but they seem to think I'm crazy whenever I suggest it._

I could hear the Voice sigh in my head. As usual. Well, maybe if whoever the Voice was would leave, then they wouldn't have to hear me be so darn obnoxious.

_Maximum,_

_Max._

_Max._ It corrected itself. _Please keep the comments to yourself, you've had some downtime, even I enjoyed Italy through your head_. It was true. The Flock had wanted a change from the old, and we were a bit averse to leaving mom so soon after her rescue, but she assured us she'd be okay, so Italy it was. Any Italians out there? My sincere congratulations coming straight from the fourteen year old bird kid source. You've got a great country.

_But you need to meet Jeb, he has some help for you and your mission._

Great. Just darn fabulous. Note extreme sarcasm.

_Oh, hold your horses-_

_I am a flying mutant. I have no horses to hold currently. _ I snapped, ready to impale whoever the Voice was and it's stupid fortune cookie sayings. No way was I going to tolerate that man as the Voice so wished I would. Jeb may have rescued us from the School, but he sure as heck hadn't kept us out. I had a reason to hold a grudge against him, and it'd only leave when he deserved it.

Somehow the Voice remained patient. _It's a phrase, you're going to your mom's house. _

_Well, Voice of Extreme Annoyance, if you had just said so! _I reminded it in my head and out loud, judging from the looks I received from my Flock. I'm really lucky they haven't sent me to an asylum yet. But I was really glad at this news. I'd deal with Jeb if I could see my mom, and maybe Ella.

_The Voice chucked. Glad you feel that way, I'll leave you alone for a while, stay safe. Save the world. You'll be at your mom's house. _And then it was gone, finally. I turned back to the others, doing a few flips in the air I was so excited.

"Voice says we're going back to mom's!" I announced triumphantly, instantly greeted by big smiles and whoops all around. What can I say? My family, both the genetic one and Flock, are great. It's hard not to get excited to see them. Luckily-or maybe not? Maybe I got another skill, just heading in the direction of where I subconsciously am going, only to find I'm actually going there?-either way, we were already above one of the states with the four corners.

"_She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts,"_ Nudge was now singing louder, Angel occasionally joining in the chorus. Ella had let Nudge borrow a walkman completely loaded with Taylor Swift, and Nudge was actually pretty good. I mean, so was Taylor, but the walkman didn't come with speakers. Plus now she wasn't the Nudge Channel as much, more MTV with the Nudge Show afterward.

"Please!" Gazzy begged, theatrically grabbing his ears. "You've been singing that song forever? C'mon, Weird Al? Simple Plan? Do you know any good songs?"

"Simple Plan is good, but _Welcome to My Life_ is so depressing!" Nudge stopped her song and said this as if it were the end of the world. "And nobody but you can stand Weird Bob or whatever he is, and Taylor Swift has actual talent, she doesn't just make parodies of other songs-"

"Weird Al!" Gazzy shouted. "Bob's totally different!"

"How about the Fray? Yellowcard? Trapt? My Chemical Romance? Boys Like Girls?" Fang asked quietly, his voice carrying to all ears in the open air. I gave him a grateful look for quelling their music battle with a few of the bands he just rattled from the top of his head, but Nudge and Gaz both respected his opinions. How he could silence them in a near whisper when I couldn't shouting was beyond me, but it worked.

"Well, I think Boys Like Girls is prejudiced." Iggy argued with a straight face. Almost as good as my own. "I mean, what if you're gay?"

This set off another round of laughter, until Iggy continued, "but other than that I like them. Great Escape is a good song, I don't like screamo much."

"You like the Black Parade and Helena!" I threw in for Fang's benefit. Yes, we were often on the run and rarely lived in proper homes, but with the internet and Ella, we were becoming quite the music freaks. Hey, it passed the time on a long flight and droned out arguments, discussions about fuses and accelerants, and the Voice. Fang had teased me about carrying guitars around with us, but we all knew they'd be too heavy. Granted, as far as ter Borcht had known, Fang played a mean harmonica. I snorted, interrupting Gazzy's mimic of Headstrong.

"What?" Nudge babbled. "Did the Voice say something amusing? Or are you just-"

"Clinically insane?" Gazzy giggled, hiding behind Iggy and pulling Total in front of his face. I ignored him, looking at Fang instead. His dark wings were beating powerfully, black hair flopping into his slightly tanned (how come he never got a sunburn?) face and dark eyes. All in black and looking at me solemnly, I trusted only my sanity as proof he had ever argued with the crazy scientist about harmonicas. And my sanity is varied, so I started laughing harder.

Angel giggled. "She was thinking about how we thought it would be cool if Fang played guitar, and then back at the School when ter Borcht asked why we kept Fang,"

"Ze tall dark von." Gazzy impersonated, setting us all off again. Maybe we were suffering of lack of sleep, but we were all very giggly.

"And then, Max said, 'well he's a snappy dresser!' and Fang said-" Nudge had stopped moving forward, now clutching her stomach as her body racked with laughter.

"Well, I play a mean harmonica." Fang said in the exact same monotone, the slightly bored voice he had used with ter Borcht. I collapsed in Fang's arms as my wings failed to keep me going in a straight course with my hilarity and only stopping when Fang kissed the top of my head. I leaned into his warm arms happily, grinning up at him.

Living with my Flock may be dangerous, but it's never boring. And Fang may be the worst harmonica player in the entire universe, but he was my favorite worst harmonica player, and that's how it would stay.

*******

"Going down!" I yelled back to the others, angling my feathers to head straight down, Fang right next to me, as always. I had a sudden inspiration seeing his face, nearly happy in the cool moonlight, and suddenly shifted to the side, wrapping him in my arms.

"Tuck your wings in," I laughed, and suddenly we were speeding through the air faster than I would have thought possible. Over the wind, I barely heard his breath leave him in an elated sigh (only Fang could manage an elated sigh.) Spinning around mom's house multiple times until the Flock caught up, we landed, dizzily trying to walk in a straight line and leaning on each other's shoulders, cracking up.

"Oh, look at you two lovebirds." Iggy drawled, leaning against the post of the porch and steadying Angel. We hadn't stopped once in our eagerness to get there, and just thinking about it made Fang and I calm down and yawn.

"If we're lovebirds," I responded tiredly, "then you're a blind old bat."

He harrumphed and tried to look angry at me, but then glanced up at the sound of approaching feet with a very happy smile plastered on his face. I turned, but just then I was rammed into by someone a head shorter then I, squealing my name and squeezing me so tight my wings hurt.

"MAXMAXMAXMAXMAXOHMYGODYOU'REHERE! MOMTHEY'REHERE! WE WEREN'T EXPECTING YOU AND OHMYGOD I'MSO GLAD TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!" Just add a few hundred more explanation points.

"Hi Ella," I squeaked, "great to see you too-air!" She leapt back like she had been stung with a grin.

"Hey guys!" She turned to the rest of the Flock, "Don't worry, my fit of hysteria is over for the moment.. C'mon in, mom's just getting out of the shower." But as she led the way indoors she whispered in my ear, "we'll have to catch up, what's this I hear about lovebirds?"

"Iggy making a bad joke." But I turned and grinned quickly at Fang, until a scent wafted through the open kitchen door...

Cookies. My mom's cookies.

I love my family.


	2. Only Movie Stars Belong On TV

**Chapter Two: Hey guys, again, here on the third of January, day before I have to head back to school, I'm editing my chapters so I'd suggest rereading this one if you have already because I added a little key factor, but if you don't, that's okay 'cause it'll come into play later. Thanks for reading, happy new year!**

After the usual hugs, squeals of joy, extremely large and delicious Mexican dinner, not to mention cookies and showers, everyone was settled in the living room in fresh and fluffy pajamas. My reaction to Jeb was of no surprise to anyone, but Fang was sitting next to me which helped enough to allow me to listen to what he said. That is, once he started. We were still waiting for mom.

Jeb was sitting very awkwardly in a wooden chair by the fifty inch plasma with a mysterious briefcase. Nudge, Angel and Ella, eager to catch up, where peering over a teen girls magazine. Don't get me wrong, I love all of them. But really, I don't care about pick-up lines for cute guys (I wouldn't have pegged you as a pudding guy!). I was pointedly ignoring Gaz and Iggy, sprawled out on some pillows with something they wouldn't trust to show me. Smart boys. Total had disappeared with Akila off somewhere and I wasn't about to ask. Maybe he was writing a sonnet for her.

Fang and I were slowly making our way through the last batch of cookies, sitting in companionable silence in the center of the room, leaning against the couch. One of the things I liked about being 'together, together' as Nudge put it, was that very little had changed. We could still confide in each other about anything, have silent conversations, or just sit and breathe. Live, like, in peace. Such a treat.

"Okay!" Mom announced, all chipper and happy as she strode into the already crowded room and plopped down next to Iggy and Gazzy (remind me to thank her later). "Sorry I'm late, dishes. Anyway, Jeb, why don't you tell the Flock your idea."

I glanced at Fang, meeting his gaze evenly. Be on guard. He gave me a look that clearly read, well, duh. Then I looked at Jeb, standing and fingering his briefcase nervously.

"So, Max."

I glared at him, but luckily Fang muttered, "Don't spit at him, it would ruin your mother's carpet." Unfortunately for Jeb, as soon as he had addressed me the room had gone dead silent so everybody heard. The girls snickered quietly.

"Thank you, Fang." Mom said, relieved.

Fang nodded, but didn't take his eyes from Jeb. "Well," Jeb began, trying not to shrink from Fang's penetrating glare. Jeb had lost a lot of his former bravado recently. "You know your mission, Max. Save the wo-"

"Get on with it!" I growled. "What's up with rubbing the 'save the world' junk in all the time?"

"I am!" And for a moment he sounded like when we had gotten in arguments over why I couldn't go out flying after dark back at the E house, but I quickly banished the thought. "Fine, I'll strip it off like the ugly, blood-soaked band-aid it is. Itex isn't gone. Not completely, they're still a major part in today's economy. Itex is a factor you need to work against if you want to save the world. Anyway, I was looking through these a while ago, and I thought that there might be something for both of your missions in them."

"Hold on." I interrupted, paling. "We have to go out and bomb or whatever all the Itex-"

Jeb fixed me with that stare of his that he always used when trying to teach something that was obvious to him but I was oblivious to. I hated it. "I didn't say that."

"You said that Itex is a factor we need to work against if we want to save the world."

"Yes, Max." He nodded encouragingly. I clenched my fists. "But it works both ways, if you can figure out how to save the world-"

"We can destroy Itex. Gotcha." I broke into his little no-it-all speech, only acting as if I didn't care. If I was honest with myself, I'd figure out how to save the world. No way in hell would I ever willingly ever go near an Itexicon branch. "Continue on with your briefcase of wonder."

Jeb seemed about to argue, but with a sigh, abandoned the attempt. "Think of them as home videos. Slightly unpleasant home videos but..." He continued to make a meager explanation of 'home video', but I had a very bad idea about this. Between Itex, saving the world, and my suspicions, I pretty much felt ready to throw up. "Your mother and sister don't have to watch these, in fact, you're the only one I think should-"

"Where Max goes, we go." Fang suddenly growled, twitching his fingers, which were curled tightly and looked slightly claw-like. "We don't just desert her with no reason."

Jeb winced, it was a low blow, but he deserved it and I was glad Fang had straightened that out.

"Same here," Ella announced. I looked at her in surprise, she didn't have to do anything unpleasant just to help me. "Max," She rolled her eyes at my apparent lack of understanding. "I'm only human. I have no superpowers. I can't fly, and I'm definitely not as tough as you, but Jeb said mom and I might be able to help with this part, and we want to."

I gulped, suddenly overcome by intense feeling for everyone but Jeb. I had no idea what I had ever done to deserve such devotion, but that didn't mean I wasn't happy about it. Iggy and Gazzy had even put the wires away, as in, not sticking out from under a pillow, but away. If that isn't a sign to you by now, you've been on Mars.

"Thanks." I muttered, suddenly very self-conscious. There weren't even any more cookies to ease the tension. "Jeb, I think I get what these videos are, but why don't you explain to everyone else?"

Now he looked self-conscious and tense. "They're," he began softly, but then spoke louder. Ripping it off as he said earlier, like a band-aid. Or a full body cast in this case. "Some are from the E house, but most I stole from the School. From your childhood."

If you've read any of my previous books (which if you're reading this, you should read. If you haven't and are reading this, you must be very confused) then you might be able to imagine the effect this had on all of us. Even though I had prepped for it, I was still overcome by a sudden wave of freezing cold despair and hate, sort of like I was ready to sob, kill somebody, and curl up in a corner all at the same time. Fang had a similar reaction, and maybe it was my imagination, but we both seemed to bury closer to each other, as if we were still the weak three year olds we had been then. Angel whimpered, suddenly pushing into Nudge and Ella. Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy were all trying to pull strong faces, but even a worm could have seen the discomfort and fear rolling off of them in waves. Only Ella and mom seemed okay. They had heard brief descriptions, but I tried again to convince them to leave.

"Ella, mom, I know you want to be here for me and everything... But I'm telling you that for your own good it would be in your best interest to leave."

No one moved. Jeb swallowed, tossing a VCR (wow, it was that far back? I thought blu-ray was the big thing now.) In each of his hands. "Are you sure?" He asked. "Everyone in here has the choice to leave, there might not be anything in it, but maybe there was a test..."

No one moved.

I squeezed Fang's hand tighter, then realized he was doing the same to me. With a click of a button, and Jeb moving to sit by mom, a very clear image had appeared on the fifty inch screen.

At first I felt sick. That they had retouched the grainy videos obviously proved that the whitecoats were proud of what they were doing to innocents. Then, I'll admit something.

I whimpered.

I, Maximum Ride, whimpered.

Because on the screen, you'll never guess who appeared.

A whitecoat.

Pushing a crate on wheels.

With a child inside.

Me.


	3. A Realization

**Chapter Three: Revised and edited!**

My nails were drawing blood from my palms and I pulled closer to Fang. I couldn't help the tide of memories that I had tried so hard to forget to come sweeping back. Even between the bars of the cage I was recognizable. I could feel, hear, everyone around me stiffen. It didn't help that everything on the screen was in color.

What sick monsters do that? They video recorded themselves torturing us, then enhanced the film for ultimate viewing pleasure.

The man wheeling the mini me into another room didn't bother to pay attention to the fact that I was kicking and screaming. The only words he said to me were "your first test is soon, 10442". Then he turned, punched a code in to a small box, and the white doors slid open and shut, leaving me alone in a room the size of a bathroom, in a cage on a shelf on a wall. With a name of '10442'.

I, or little me on the screen, just sat there. In the cage. I was staring right at the camera, though I couldn't remember if I knew it was there or not. Maybe it was just that trait of mine of knowing something without realizing it. I wasn't blinking. I didn't pay attention when my stomach grumbled. I didn't move.

Couldn't. I corrected myself. I remembered feeling like a couldn't move.

There was a sudden crackling from the surround sound, a voice. My voice, cracked with thirst and lack of use, besides screaming.

"Hello?" Though it came out more of "'Lo?'" And then I started coughing. I started coughing and I couldn't stop. I watched myself hunker down in my cage, spitting up blood with tears streaming silently down my face until I could barely breathe. I could see my ribs against where the fabric of my shirt pulled tight and the stains left behind, a mixture of salty tears and whatever crap was coming out of my mouth.

It felt that way in the living room, too, like my lungs were too tight to breathe. But even then, I was proud to admit, I didn't give up. As soon as the coughing fit ended enough for me to get shakily to my feet, I grasped the bars for support.

"Hello?" I yelled, then coughed again but didn't sit down. I began to rattle on the bars, unused to this bizarre treatment. My four year old self had been, well, not taken care of, but fed and watered with company until then. Four was when they began the real torture.

The Max on the screen, then 10442, looked down at the ground through the bars at her feet, she could see the ground, maybe if... She backed up, Fang suddenly stiffened beside me, and his hand became tighter on my wrist.

"No. Don't tell me you..."

I did. 10442 stumbled backward then slammed herself into the front of the locked cage, and with a totter, it fell through the air. We had all done it multiple times, even though the same thing happened every time. We were desperate. Fang's breath caught in his throat. I began to rub between his shoulder blades, remind him that I was in fact here, no matter what the tape showed.

The surround sound played my scream as I tumbled through the air and onto the ground, magnified my sniffles and the shatter of something. Then the cry of pain as my nerve endings received the message that I had broken my arm. When put on the shelf, any experiment had tried it at least once. I remembered having done it at least three times, but all I could remember now was how much that broken arm had hurt, how unused to pain I was, how I was wailing and nobody came. Nobody seemed to hear for an hour, Jeb fast-forwarded through the video until I was only whimpering, but tears soaked my face until I had nearly fallen into a fitful sleep.

I jumped awake. The sharp sensors in the microphone magnified the Eraser banging down the door, not even waiting for it to slide open. It snarled at me, and I recoiled as far back as I could. Never before in my four year old life had I experienced anything so terrible and horrifying. I heard Ella stifle a shriek and realized that she had never seen an Eraser, watched one morph from male model to blood thirsty monster in seconds.

"SHUT UP! " It kicked my cage, bouncing me into the corner, making a dent with the force bouncing me back to it's flailing feet. "STUPID MUTANT! DON'T YOU GET IT? NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU!" I screamed again as I hit another wall, and it continued, even when dozens of whitecoats crowded around the door just to watch. Some took notes.

I remembered. The pain had been the worst I had ever felt. Somebody cared about me, I had thought, Jeb did. He was a nice whitecoat, but where was he, why was I being kicked around like a ball? Why was this happening?

Another piercing shriek radiated around the living room. I felt I might throw up, but I couldn't stop watching. It was like the One Ring in those movies Ella, Iggy and Fang liked... Lord of the Rings. It was terrible, but I was addicted, I felt if I stopped watching the movie I would be back there and just watching a movie of me sitting here...

Jeb fast forwarded again, until finally the Eraser threw me back onto the shelf and I retreated to the far back. I didn't move. Not for hours. Jeb's finger kept pressing the button, but nothing seemed to be moving any faster, the only live thing in the room was me, and I sure as heck wasn't gonna move after what had just happened. That's what I had told myself. Maybe if I stayed still they'd all go away and forget about me, and then Jeb would come fine me. He'd know what to do.

But after another five minutes of fast-forwarding, he pressed play and the normal speed resumed so that everyone could make out the younger Jeb and me, even Iggy who Angel was showing images to in his head.

"Hey there," he reached for a step ladder and came up to stand near me. I shrunk father back. "How's it going, Tennis?"

Suddenly the video paused, I turned to see mom looking about to blow fifty million caskets at Jeb.

"You. Called. Her. Tennis?"

Despite her infuriation, I had to hand it to Jeb: he didn't flinch, and his voice was steady as he voiced his reasons. Honestly, I had forgotten what he had called me and didn't care that much. It wasn't _my _name, no matter what he called me.

"Her abbreviated number was 10442 and real names weren't allowed less the whitecoat in charge became to fond of his or her..." he glanced at me, "experiment. It was the best name I could give her."

Fang was now glaring, not daggers, more fire-heated branding irons with sharp points at Jeb. "I never called her Tennis." He snarled, sounding more animalistic than ever.

"Well you weren't a whitecoat." Jeb glared back, using his reprimanding tone I had ignored so many times before.

"Thanks." Fang hissed. "Wish I could say the same to you."

Jeb looked down, taking his part in our difficult lives, but he still added, "Yes, well, we'll figure out what you called Max soon enough. Anderson brought you in after her first test." I gripped Fang's wrist tightly, and we each shared a look of horror. We remembered it all to well, and I could see even now the effect that the name had on Fang.

"The Eraser wasn't the first test?" Ella asked hollowly. She didn't need an answer, so Jeb resumed the movie and we continued.

I won't bore you with the continued remarks of horror coming from the nine of us, or my test of being told to fly across a hot river of lava-don't ask how it got there-when I didn't know how to fly. I had managed to jump from solid-ish piece to solid-ish piece, but by the end I was again beat up for not flying, so along with burns I had bruises, a broken arm and a really sore body. My white uniform was no longer white and had even burned away in places. I was so weak they didn't bother restraining me until I was carefully placed in my cage-by Jeb, the traitor-and fed. After a meager pickle, with the promise of more, I instantly fell asleep.

We all continued to watch the screen even after the black lump that was me rolled out of site from the camera. We all continued to sit in silence. And horror. Any adjective you want. I didn't realize that my eyes were watery until Fang brushed the tears away and pulled me into his arms. Not as a boyfriend/girlfriend gesture, but as an I-know-you-so-well-I-don't-care-if-you-don't-look-like-you-need-a-hug-because-you-do one. I was content to lay there in shock until with a sharp squeal of compressed air, the sliding doors opened.

Fang definitely didn't have the quiet entrance that I did. He was dressed all in white, but he was thrashing about the his cage and making such a screaming, howling racket we all put our hands to our ears. On the screen, my younger self jolted awake at the sight of this thing coming into my room.

"I thought you were a demon " I yelled above the noise he was making as Jeb tried desperately to turn the volume down.

"SHUT YOUR SKINNY ASS UP, MUTANT!" The whitecoat roared, pulling a gun on Fang. I don't know if Fang knew what the gun was, that he could have died, but he did stop screaming and just looked up at the whitecoat. And spat. Right into his face. The Max in her cage giggled, but the whitecoat wasn't paying attention. As I have previously said, the scientists were messing with pretty risky stuff when they spliced species. This one was now screaming and clawing at his face like it was on fire, quickly bolting out of their shouting about disinfectant. The doors closed, leaving Fang on the ground and me on the shelf.

"A demon?" Fang whispered quietly into my ear. I nodded, and despite it all he managed to smirk.

"Anyone could mistake Fang for a demon." Iggy rolled his sightless eyes. "Where do you think he got his name?"

"What?" Mom exclaimed. I shushed her, Fang on the screen was looking at the younger Max.

"It'll come up soon." I explained. "Watch."

The both of us looked at each other. I crept as far as I could to the edge of my cage without toppling it over to see who this mysterious intruder was.

Finally he said, "You're a wreck."

And even my four year old self could roll her eyes.

"What're those things on your back?" I asked, curious and ready to talk. All tiredness forgotten, I now had a roommate. Demonic roommate, but someone who wasn't trying to bash my head in.

"Wings." He replied in a total 'no duh' tone. "You've got some, too."

"No " I protested, spinning around in my cage trying to find these wings. "I'm an avian-human mutant. I don't think we have wings."

The small Fang snorted, spreading his own black ones and managing to flap them pathetically. 10442's eyes widened in amazement.

"You try." He explained to me patiently.

"But-"

"Yes you do. Now sort of move your shoulder blades back." I did as asked, ignoring the pain in my arm. It was a prick compared to this new information.

"I thought you were delusional." I told the fourteen year old Fang, back at mom's house. "I didn't think that I could have wings."

Iggy looked in my general direction with an attempt at a sarcastic grin, trying to lighten the atmosphere. It didn't work, but he made an effort. "Of anyone, Max would be the one to not understand she has wings." Seeing him wanting to cheer everyone up did just the job, even if in any other circumstance would've found it irritating and beat him to a pulp. Then, just as I was going to say "Thanks, Ig," a screech from the speakers had me looking at the screen again. Fang's younger self was spinning around his cage like a tiger, snarling and spitting. Three Erasers were pointing guns at him, while another one lifted his cage effortlessly and threw it next to mine on the top shelf. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched the shelf shudder and my then-broken arm shake, making me cry out once.

I dug my nails into Fang's wrist back in the living room. On screen, his younger self just kept howling and spitting like an avenging angel until the laughing Erasers left the room.

"Fang " Nudge gasped despite herself as Fang's four year old counterpart just collapsed in the cage.

"I'm here, Nudge." After a pause, Fang finally whispered, not taking his eyes from the screen. If he didn't bite his nails, I would have been bleeding from his grip on my wrist, but I didn't mind.

It was like we were back there, back on the screen ten years ago and dependant on each other. No one else was there. No one else cared. That's why we became so close, because no one else would.

_Flashback _and **Nudge's Point of View. I'm just trying this, hope it works.**

_Max was dumped out of her cage, landing on her broken arm and immediately____groaning in pain, but the Erasers just laughed and kicked at her._

"_Pretty birdy," they taunted, "Why don't you just fly away?"_

"_Fly away home." Another crooned, leaning down and stroking a claw along her____jawbone. Max snarled and backed away, tears staining her dirty cheeks as she____looked around. She was in the middle of a large field, a large dome over the____top and illuminated by the same harsh lights that were everywhere else. It ____hurt her eyes, but the Erasers were threateningly close, and she didn't want to____lose sight of them. However, they just kept laughing and backing away._

_And it was then that the four year old realized how hot it was in the dome and____that sweat glistened on her brow and stained her dirty white uniform. She no____longer smelled of antiseptic, then the gates opened again and ten whitecoats____stepped in, along with twenty Erasers._

"_Subject number 10442 " One called. Max looked around, unsure of who they____were talking about, until an Eraser ran forward and shocked her. She screamed____as a bolt of white-hot electricity shot through her body. Nine of the ten then____began to take notes, on occasion looking at Max for reference. The last one continued, unfazed. "You are now to____attempt to get across the river of molten matter without help and relying only____on yourself for true success in your endeavor. Do I make myself clear?"_

_Max wasn't sure what they were talking about, she only knew some of the words____that the whitecoat had used. She was confused, but nodded with a lump in her____throat so she wouldn't be tasered. It happened anyway and she yelped again._

I looked at Max again, stifling my own sob. Fang had her wrapped in his arms,__both of their eyes wide in fear as they looked at the screen again and another__Eraser kicked Max's legs out from underneath her.

"Stop " She cried, pulling an arm closer, "Please! That hurts "

The Eraser kicked her again. "Go ahead," it snarled at her, "You heard the__doctor, get going " He spun her around, and her eyes were no longer visible,__but anyone could have recognized that she was terrified.

_Max now understood____why it was so hot, there was a huge river of something she didn't know, but it____scared her. It bubbled, steaming and spitting like it couldn't wait to grasp____her in it's evil claws._

"Max?" Gazzy asked quietly. She didn't say anything, and Fang's arms seemed to tighten. Now he was muttering into her ear, but I couldn't hear what he said to make her stop shaking.

_It was pain as such she had never felt before, four year old Max had nearly fallen into the lava and burned her feet. There were taser marks on her back, and the Erasers were prowling side to side, cackling manically so that she couldn't get back._

The younger Max was trying to jump from solidified bits of lava to the next, and seeing Max now rub her feet unconsciously, I wanted to go over and hug her. Reassure myself that she was here, this wasn't an illusion. But now I was supporting Angel who was only looking at the screen for Iggy's sake, and Ella. Both were leaning on me and I could feel their tears soaking my clothing.

Iggy was holding Gazzy, much the same way Fang was to Max and the eight year old's eyes were squeezed closed as tight as they could. I wanted to feel concerned for everyone else, but all I could do was keep an eye on the screen. I hadn't known Max when she was this young, hadn't known the trials she went through as the only Flock member. With all of my experiments and torture that I had to go through, I'd always had three friends for backup. Max was all alone, and I could feel myself holding back racking sobs.

Heck, it seemed like everyone but Fang, Max and Iggy was crying. Granted, Max looked like she was going through shock and I felt the most immense relief possible when Jeb fast-forwarded through Max's struggle until she collapsed, exhausted, on the other side and was half-kicked, half-thrown back to her cage and was so still only seeing her cradled in Fang's arms then reassured me that she would move again.

**Max Point of View**

I watched as Fang and I sat silently in cages, just watching each other. He seemed to have gotten past his brief chatty phase and now stared at me with expressionless black eyes. I had a chance to notice that his face was purpled and bruised and there were scratches under his eyes, not to mention the bags

showing lack of sleep. When I had first met him, I had immediately known that we did not have the same 'care givers'.

I remembered being impatient. I had been given a companion, I had been stressed and tired, and he didn't even talk. Jeb fast forwarded again, he said it had been five minutes before I had given in to temptation.

"Who're you?" My younger voice cracked slightly from the smoke that I had inhaled, but it still sounded very hopeful.

Fang didn't respond. His expression didn't change, not a twitch on his scrawny body. I watched me lean toward him in my cage, peering at him curiously. This really seemed to get on his nerves; with the enhanced cameras, anyone in the room could easily see the contemptuous twitch of his lip and the narrowing of his black eyes.

"Not an exhibit."

I remembered backing up, surprised at his sudden use of speech, even though it had been in a cold voice he now reserved for enemies. I watched myself nod.

"Neither am I."

"You guys are off to a great start " Ella whispered hoarsely, I think trying to make a joke like Iggy. After that exchange and our previous one about wings, we sat in silence again. The younger Fang glared at me again and turned his back on me, leaning against the wall of his cage with a heavy sigh. My eyes narrowed, and in turn the video showed me repeating the same act. I wouldn't be outdone.

Well, apparently I would because not ten seconds later I turned around again. I repeated my earlier question and asked who he was. Fang didn't answer. Didn't twitch one dark black wing.

"Please " I begged, grabbing at the cage bars. "Look at me, I've been so lonely and I don't know where I am and the whitecoats hurt me and..." I let out a strangled sob. "I just want to know what's going on "

Back at mom's house, I felt Fang's arms tighten around my waist reassuringly. I watched my recorded self collapse in the cage and finally break down and sob. Huge, racking, cough-sobs that echoed around the tiny room. From the screen I could see Fang's back tighten, and he slowly turned around to look at my tiny, shaking form.

Black bangs flopped into his eyes just as they did when he was fourteen, but was that a hint of apology on his face? I remembered this, and it was.

"You better not be faking."

I pushed my greasy hair from my blotchy eyes and snarled through my sobs, "Do I _look _like I'm faking to you?" And I whipped around so I wouldn't have to face him, trying to hold back the cries and coughing instead.

He hesitated, backing up a little. "Sorry." He muttered, then repeated it a little louder. "You're just another test, though. Go ahead and pretend you're not faking."

"Wha-wha-t," I hiccuped, "do yo-you mean?"

Fang looked uncomfortable. "That's what they say."

Ugh, it was so irritating Even at my young age I had found his lack of speech annoying.

I coughed again, rubbing at my eyes and turning my head back to look at him. "What. Do. They. Say?" I asked slowly as if he had a speech impairment or was incredibly stupid.

The Fang on the screen glared at me and sighed, pushing some hair out of his eyes. "The whitecoats." A dull monotone of a voice. "It's all a test. Everything."

Little me gasped with a big grin, I remembered thinking that I had a breakthrough, now that we had something in common. It was the first time I had anything in common with anyone.

"That's what they tell me " I exclaimed, wiping the tears from my face with an already grubby sleeve. "But I'm not, I swear it. I've been here for... I don't know how long but I've already had tests." Fang's eyes flashed, just for a moment, but it seemed like they may have hope in them yet. He even turned his body full around to look at me. Eyebrows raised in the typical Fang "really?" look, I nodded back.

"GASP!" Nudge exclaimed suddenly, pointing at the screen so that Jeb would pause it. "It's a good thing you recorded this part, Jeb, but maybe not the rest 'cause that's depressing and sad and I haven't seen Max cry very much except for like, there, and when she tried to get the chip from her arm and-"

"What's your point?" Iggy asked irritably. "I think it's all bullsh- bullcrap and that we should blow these all up. These things are incredibly explosive."

I was thankful he covered up the language. No matter what situation it was, I wasn't going to allow Iggy to start mouthing off. Really, we were mutants, not pirates.

"ARE YOU ALL BLIND?" Nudge exclaimed, then looked crestfallen at Iggy. We had all stiffened, except for the actual blind kid.

"Yes."

"Sorry, Ig, I was speaking theoretically, you know because I noticed something I don't think anyone else noticed...Oh, sorry...Anyway, well, right then when Fang raised his eyebrows and his eyes sorta bugged a little? And then Max nodded? FIRST OFFICIAL NON-SPOKEN CONVERSATION OF MAX AND FANG IS RECORDED!"

"Seriously?" Gazzy asked, sniffing. I could tell he hadn't been paying much attention. I glared at Nudge. Fang and I both did.

"So?" Mom asked, trying to be understanding but totally failing.

"She and Fang can have a whole conversation without making a peep and we've been trying to record it for the longest amount of time to show them how weird it is but they-"

"NUDGE!" We barked so that she collapsed back onto the floor with a resigned sigh. Then I continued in a quiet voice. "Ang, Gaz, why don't you come over here." They were both trying to pull the tough act, but it wasn't working too much. They were seven and eight and had already experienced the School as it was, this wasn't needed. Gratefully, they hurried over and sat in my lap. I ruffled their hair, reassuring them that nothing would happen. We were safe.

"You okay?" It was a voice, barely louder than silence brushing past my ear. Fang. I nodded. He didn't fall for it.

"It's fine," he whispered, "I'm...It's...Sorta scary."

I knew how much effort it took Fang to say that something was worrisome, let alone 'sorta scary', but I totally got what he was saying. I leaned back into his shoulder, not only for my comfort, but for his. He rested his chin on my shoulder as Jeb resumed the movie.

"So what do they call you?" I asked the dark boy sitting across from me. He was angering me with his few word answers, but I had needed something to distract me from the throbbing pain in my arm, not to mention the burns. I could see my face flush as he shrugged without further comment.

"I'm 10442." I informed him. "That's what they call me. Or, most of them. I used to get confused between me and 10424, but she went somewhere. I haven't seen her in a while, but now I get it so they don't hurt me as much. If I respond to '10442' they don't hurt me as much."

I looked at the boy for any reaction, just begging he would answer. That I wouldn't be alone. However, I was unpleasantly surprised when his previously masked face contorted in fury.

"How..." Fang spat at me, "can you respond to a number?" He rattled the bars of his cage. "Don't you get it? We're bad things to them, they have names 'cause they think they deserve them. We have numbers because we're 'crap' or 'mutants'. But they hurt us. They're the jerks, they're the 'mutants'" He was breathing heavily and tearing at his hair, clearly wanting me to get his point. Unfortunately for him, I was a bit disoriented and slow. He shook the bars of his cage in anger. "We deserve names, too! We're not useless numbers, don't you get it?"

"Not really." I answered truthfully.

Fang gnashed his teeth, twisting as he tried to deal with me. He was muttering darkly to himself, but quietly enough that even the speakers didn't catch it. Finally he turned back to me, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Numbers are what they use in experiments, in test tubes, for something without feelings and thoughts. Test tubes don't have names because names are power. But we have feelings. Your arm hurts. You're angry at them for leaving you here. You're scared of your next test. Those are feelings. Understand? We're not numbers because of this. We don't deserve this." Then he continued hatefully. "They're numbers "

Mom and Ella, not to mention everyone but myself and Fang, was shocked at this recorded outburst on the screen. If it hadn't been for the reliability of the School's machinery and high-tech materials, they may not have believed that Fang had yelled. Not to mention yelling more than he said in a usual day at the School.

"_Oh." I said, confused. "So the men in white are... bad?"_

_He nodded back, leaving a grim smile on my lips. I felt like I had achieved at least something, much more than I had by crossing the lava river._

"_Do they hurt you? Ignore your opinions?"_

_I nodded._

"_Then they're bad." He growled. "They're nothing more than..." He spent a moment trying to search for a word to describe the whitecoats. I thought I might be getting it. Was the feeling, boiling deep in the pit of my stomach and making my heart beat faster whenever I saw one anger? Bad. It was a new concept._

"_We're not bad?"_

"'_Course not. They are, that's how you got burned, right?"_

_I nodded again, unwilling to show any weakness to someone who could still be a test. Even though I was excited by my progress with the boy, maybe he was a robot sent in to show my loyalty to the scientists... But they were bad. Robot or not he had taught me something. Friend or enemy. I knew I had enemies and they were the men in white. The ones who had burned me. Broken my arm, laughed at me, shocked me._

"_Bad." I said, the word unfamiliar on my tongue. "Bad. Ev-" But my first cry of 'evil' was interrupted by an enormous yawn, copied by the boy. _

_But Jeb was nice. I still knew that. He wasn't bad, he fed me, but I didn't know where he was then. I was starving, and my new neighbor probably was, too. He could certainly use some meat on his bones._

"_Thanks." I mumbled as I curled at the bottom of the cage, succumbing to sleep._


	4. On Thoughts and Feelings

**Chapter Four: Revised and I'm thinking significantly better than the prior chapter four…**

"Only ten more minutes of action on this tape." Jeb announced as the screenwent black. I glared at him over the folded couch.

"Action?"

"Where you two are speaking, or interacting. The rest you sleep." He clarified for me, then took a sweeping glance of the room. I beat him there, though. This was my family and I would make sure they were okay.

Ella, Nudge and Iggy were huddled together. Iggy had the same horrified expression as all of us, Angel was still sending him the video through his mind. Both girls were sniffle fests.

I would have been. I freely admit it, but over the years I've learned something. Stay numb and you don't cry. Don't cry and you stay strong. Stay strong and the Flock survives. I had broken it a few times, the 'don't cry, Max' rule, but it had worked for the most part. By now I was used to blocking any feelings that may be rushing through me like a tide, stifling any gasps of terror as I revisited the School...

_Stop it, Max._ I demanded of myself. _Ten more minutes. You can do it._ _Then you can sleep. _ Granted, sleep wouldn't come easily. I knew that, if it came at all. All my nightmares would come back where I couldn't run, couldn't hide, couldn't fly, Fang and the other's broken bodies lay around me like dolls... I made myself stop again. Then after making sure my mom was still in one piece, I gestured for Jeb to continue. I didn't trust myself to speak.

"WORTHLESS! YOUR THOUGHTS ARE NOTHING! YOU ARE NOTHING!"

We all jumped about a mile at the harsh voice shouting through the speakers, and I wished that Jeb would turn it down. The blackness on screen disappeared with me staggering to my feet as I was awoken by a strange whitecoat jabbing Fang with a gun through the bars of his cage while screaming.

"_SHUT UP!" _Fang screamed back, about to say something else, but the whitecoat hit the gun's barrel across Fang's mouth. He laughed cruelly, leaning down in front of the cage, now on the floor. Fang had stiffened into a board behind me, and carefully, I unwrapped my arms from Angel and Gaz and touched his knee.

He wouldn't have wanted a hug with everyone around. Or if it were just us. H wasn't a huggy person.

"Go away!" I shrieked from my cage, making like Fang and spitting at the whitecoat. He threw a heavy metal rod at me, bruising my forehead.

"Useless trash." The whitecoat hissed, kicking Fang's cage. "You think you're so high and mighty, you think you're smart. I'm surprised you can think at all. All your talk, it's just that, random scribbles. It doesn't mean anything."

The Fang on the screen didn't say anything, just stared bloody murder at the whitecoat, Anderson.

"You, mutant, may think that there is something you can say, but nobody cares. Not a soul. No matter how many people you are with, you will always be alone. Nothing you say or think can change this. You." Anderson bumped Fang with the gun. "Are." Again, he nudged him, pushing him to the back of the cage. "Alone."

"No..." Fang croaked, bending over as if he was going to be sick. I rubbed soothing circles on the real Fang's knee, though I think I was too tense for much effect.

"Yes." A whisper from the whitecoat. "Alone. If you actually had any brain space you would no that nobody cares about you. You are a failure."

"No." But it was more a sigh, definitely weaker and barely picked up by the School's speaker but magnified by mom's surround sound.

"Yes." He grinned brutally before gesturing for an Eraser to grab Fang's cage. He was thrown up aside me, and punching in the code, the whitecoat and Eraser left.

The tape ended with a distinct click. But after that, it was al silence. None of us moved, I was in a state of shock. I didn't realize my eyes were closed until I opened them when Iggy breathed. "Fang..."

He moved behind me, suddenly standing and walking out of the room as fast as he could while still looking like Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected.

"I'm fine." He said in the same monotone as the tape, if a bit deeper. I ignored him, not even bothering toss Jeb a spiteful look, and sprinted out the door behind him.

I found him on the roof, sitting with his knees pulled to his chest and looking at the clouded Arizona sky. It would rain soon, the grey and purple clouds proved that. When I landed silently on the roof, he didn't show any sign that he'd heard me. He didn't move, didn't shift his position. Carefully, I walked forward and folded down beside him. A cool breeze whipped through the night air, the only warmth came from Fang's shoulder pressed tightly against me.

After maybe a second or an hour, a raindrop plopped itself down on my nose. I looked at Fang. He still hadn't moved. Some wind pushed the hair from his eyes. Expressionless.

My heart thudded painfully.

"Fang." I whispered. Pleaded. "Fang, look at me."

He didn't move. I dodged around to sit in front of him, so he couldn't avoid me.

"Please "

Dark eyes, dark as the sky now pouring rain turned to me. I couldn't detect anything there. Not an emotion, not a thought. I was on my own.

"Fang," I began again and leaned closer to his face, to the raindrops dripping off his nose and clotting on his eyelashes.. "I don't care what that whitecoat said. Actually, I think he was a bastard and can rot in hell, but that's beside the point. A lot of people care about you, Fang. The Flock does, my mom does, and so does Ella. You're like the older brother she's never has." I cleared me throat, not daring to blink less he look away and I'd lose him. "I care about you, Fang. You taught me how to live and breathe and think for myself. You always have good ideas and thoughts, whether you share them or not. You're not afraid to tell me if I'm crazy, and I know how much you care even if you hide it." I drew a rattling breath. "You're not worthless. The scientist was wrong, Fang."

I looked in his dead eyes, begging for a spark of recognition. Something, and there was a small flicker. Barely noticeable. Just what I needed.

"Fang," I breathed again, pushing hair out of his face, "we both have thoughts and feelings and you are the farthest person from worthless I've ever met. You taught me a great lesson the day you met me, we're not monsters. Without you, I'd be nothing. You don't realize that you hold me together," a flash in his eyes. "You're like the super glue that nothing can break. My one constant. I wouldn't be able to lead the Flock, even survive without you. You matter."

He could hide it from anyone but me, and in that moment, with rain soaking both of our pajamas and crouched on my mother's roof in a rainstorm, I leaned forward and I kissed him. Right on the mouth, feeling his lips on mine. I wrapped my hands around his head and pulled him closer, and after a moment of shock, slowly, he began to kiss me back and his arms slowly crept to my face. Callused hands caressing my cheeks, he leaned into me, returning the favor.

Then, we jolted apart as if tasered when a huge clap of thunder rolled through the air, so loud my world seemed to vibrate. When I un-tensed my shoulders, I looked at Fang again. When he caught my gaze his mouth quirked to a half-smile.

"Thanks." He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the edge of the roof. But his shoulders were still tense. There was still something on his mind.

"Spit it out." I prodded him, I wouldn't be able to sleep until I was sure he could and I was really tired. I repeated it.

"Fine, okay. I was going to ask if I could drag a mattress into your room tonight," Mom had given me the guestroom, and the rest of the Flock was content to camp out anywhere. "Like we used to. I...."

"Don't want to sleep alone." I finished for him, pecking him once on the cheek. Was that the hint of a blush? Jeez, Fang, don't kill yourself here. "I feel the same way."

Now, for those of you in the back row with dirty minds, seeing as we had just kissed, it was nothing like that. At the E shape house, after we had escaped the School, Fang had brought his mattress in my room so we wouldn't be alone because Nudge slept with Angel and Gazzy with Iggy (which would be changed in around a month) and just watching that first experience was enough to make us feel that way. Clarified? Good.

Fang nudged me off the roof, then waited for me to duck in the kitchen window before following behind. Happy to be out of the rain and cold, I quickly stepped aside for Fang to come in, but I always seem to forget vital facts.

1. The floor was tile.

2. I was the definition of soaked. Next to the word in a dictionary

would be a picture of me.

3. Everyone minus the Gasman and Angel was sitting at the kitchen table.

Three strikes you're out. As soon as I took one step, I slipped and fell right on my butt with a little peep escaping my lips. Immediately I felt my cheeks burning, even as Fang came in behind me and offered me his hand.

The tiny smile on his face looking down bothered me, especially with his equally wet hair flopping in his equally wet face and he was standing up. With extreme maturity, I grabbed his hand and pulled him down beside me, and even Fang can slip. His breath whooshed out when he fell beside me. In surprise, fourteen foot wings darker than the night sky extended from his back and shoved me into the fridge.

"Hey!" I squeaked, rolling away from him in the already crowded kitchen and smacking my head on the wall. He snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head and wings like a wet dog. Hey, Total has wings It didn't make a difference to me, I was past the point of more water mattering unless it drowned me, but Nudge squealed and squirmed away.

"Fang!" She dove behind Iggy, shoving him off the bench and onto the floor that would need serious mopping.

"Seriously, man." Iggy complained, sliding into me. I shoved him away and attempted to get up, but my legs slid out from underneath me and I fell into Fang who in turn fell into Ella's chair (Ella was trying to stop laughing) who fell out of her chair and onto me.

"Oh, sorry " She squeaked, pushing away from me and under the table. "Ooh, you guys are wet."

"Thanks for clearing that up." I replied dryly, wringing my hair out and abandoning the attempt to get up. Mom and Jeb were hiding grins behind their hands, but Nudge, Iggy and Ella were laughing openly. I glanced at Fang, now attempting to fold his wet wings back in and looking ridiculous.

I couldn't help it. I giggled. I, Maximum Ride, giggled. Fang's eyes turned up to meet mine, questioning. Still laughing quietly, I scrambled through the water on all fours to him, sitting in the corner and trying to conserve space.

"You look like a duck stuck in an oil spill." I informed him, spinning him around and managing to press his wings against his back again. Silently, he rolled his eyes and stood up. Not slipping once. I looked up at him, but he shook his head.

"No way."

"You were wet already "

Again, Fang shook his head, the makings of a smile on his face, then sloshed over and helped Iggy up. Infuriated, I got a good grip on the cabinet latch and pulled myself up.

"One day soon, Fang..." I growled, sounding scary to anyone outside of the people in the room. How helpful. Fang found it amusing.

"What?" He asked innocently, edging around the corner and out of direct kicking range. "No, seriously, I'm curious. What would you do?"

Stepping around Iggy, I crouched down. "First, I'd corner you, then I'd very slowly pound your head into any rock that was thicker than your head. If I ever find one."

"Oooh," he hissed, taking another step back, "scary."

That darn boy was infuriating. I launched myself at him.


	5. Flying into Trees

**Chapter Four: Angel Point of View**

I was dreaming, and Max and Fang were there. They were at the School in theiryounger cages, but they were fourteen so they were cramped and couldn't move.Ari was pointing a gun at them and my throat was growing hoarse as I screamed "why? Why, Ari?'" Because hehad been on our side until he died, and then I asked him why he hadn't told ushe was alive and that we would've given him a birthday party. I'd wanted to, and we could have gone and seen a play, I think he would've liked that. Total could have given us a selection of his favorites. And then we could order take out and go to the beach and play at the beach and he could be normal.

I choked, my mouth filling with water, but I couldn't use my gills as the ceiling opened up and rain poured down on all of us, pounding me to the floor and I couldn't get up, couldn't get up… I screamed to Max and Fang, the cages were melting away like candle wax, and Max tried to get to me, but Ari was stuck between us. He was shivering, and I couldn't see his eyes anymore, just black as the melted away with the cages. He collapsed, convulsing like the experiments do before they die, but they just stepped over him, trying to get to me.

"Max!" I screamed. "He's your brother!" But she just laughed lightly, like shecouldn't see us. Her eyes were clear. The whitecoats must have drugged her. Now she and Fang were wrestling, and she pinned him into themud on the floor, but he used his big black wings to push her upwards into a tree, just asthunder seemed to break my ear drums.

I bolted up in bed, clutching my heart. Something moaned at my side, I jumpedas if electrocuted, but it was just my brother rolling over in his sleep.

It was just a dream. Just a dream, but I could still hear the thunder and rainon the roof, and the babble of voices downstairs. Laughter. It bothered me howeveryone could still laugh after what we had watched. It had been terrible, itwas like going back. Carefully, I slipped out of bed and quietly moveddownstairs while willing Gazzy into a deeper sleep. His dreams were worse thanmine.

"Dr. M?" I called sleepily from the stairs. The laughter quieted, so I couldtell that Max and Fang were not in the room. Quickly, I scanned for them.They were out in the rain, playing I guess.

"Angel? I thought you were in bed?" She replied, and I was surprised to hearsloshing as she walked and stood at the bottom of the steps. Her slipperedfeet were wet. Had someone left the sink on in the kitchen? She appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "C'mere." Ijumped into her arms, snuggling into her, and she carried me into the kitchen,** t**hen placed me on the bench.

"Angel," Iggy complained, "why're you still up? It took me forever to get youto fall asleep."

"Nightmare." I yawned, leaning on Ella's shoulder. "Sorry."

"Want to talk about it?" Nudge asked, bouncing in her seat. "I knew that Iwouldn't be able to sleep even though I'm completely wiped out except then Iaccidentally took a sip of Jeb's coffee instead of my juice so now I'm nottired anymore even though I haven't slept in like, ten hours and we flew herebut it's not like we've been fighting M-Geeks or anything since we came toArizona mmffpphh..."

Laughing, Ella clamped her hand over Nudge's mouth, then whispered in my ear."Red Bull, not coffee. Even worse."

I giggled, nodding, then looked around. Iggy, Jeb, and Dr. M were mopping upthe floor, not looking too happy about it either.

"What happened?"

Iggy glared in my general direction. "Like you don't know."

"I know Max and Fang did something, and that's not a dirty joke, Iggy."

"Too bad."

Dr. Martinez had an irritated glare to match Max's, and used it on Iggy. Unluckily for him, he couldn't see it. I sent him a quick image, so he muttered 'sorry' and continued mopping.

"Max and Fang were outside when it started raining. They opened the window when they decided to come in because they were too lazy to locate the door, probably bringing in half the water in Arizona at the same time. Then Max dragged Fang down into the pool which was priceless," Ella snickered, replaying it in her mind for me. I now understood why everyone was laughing so hard and joined in. "So then they got into a bit of a fight and Max tackled Fang who ran upstairs and, judging by the drip in the ceiling which I had to go fix and the open window, escaped that way."

I nodded. My dream made a bit of sense now. I was half hearing thoughts and having a nightmare, it had happened before.

"Does that have anything to do with your dream?" Jeb asked. Max hated him, and I hated how he knew me well enough to guess that, so I just nodded.

"What was it about?"

I looked at Nudge, who appeared to be crashing. Her eyelids were fluttering, but I told her anyway.

"Ari was there, trying to kill Max and Fang, but then he disappeared and I didn't get it, and it was raining really hard, and thundering which was when I woke up."

"Ari?" Max's mom raised an eyebrow, pausing from her mopping. Most of the water had been wiped away by now.

"Eraser and Max's half-brother." Iggy explained coldly. I remembered that time when he, Fang and Gazzy had left us. It had torn not only me and Nudge apart, but Max, too, which was hard to do. But we were together again now. "No one important."

Nudge and I ignored the last bit. I was now thinking about some canine companionship, Total in particular. He was great and could always cheer me up. I asked where he was, but everyone just shrugged.

"Maybe with Akila at the neighbor's barn, Akila always spends a lot of time there, trying to catch mice."

Akila had been scarred after the encounter with Gozen and the ice crevasse, so now she stayed in Arizona with Max's family. Pretty happy, except for the occasional shave to avoid heat stroke. All the same, I wish I could talk to Total. I leaned into Ella's shoulder again. Iggy and Ella chatted softly for a bit, I didn't pay attention until Jeb finally asked,

"Angel, where are Max and Fang?" His tone was piercing, as if trying to read my mind. It angered me that I couldn't read his. "They shouldn't be out long in this weather." I looked up at him, to find the mops put away and the floor drying and the chatter subsided. Nudge was asleep against Iggy's shoulder. I closed my eyes and scanned the darkness for them. At first it was hazy, they had a tendency to always keep their brains blocked.

"They're blowing off some steam..." I muttered. "I dunno where, they're in the area though. They don't care about the lightning. Max just went warping, but the wind nearly blew her into a tree so she stopped." I giggled.

"Warping?" Ella questioned. "Like, warp speed?"

"Uh huh." I nodded. "She can go really fast, with, like, no effort. It's pretty good."

Dr. M leaned back and whistled, something I would have associated with some hick teen, not her, but they say to learn something new everyday.

"Are they watching out for lightning despite their not caring?"

"They're not idiots, Ig."

"You sure? That's news to me."

I rolled my eyes then said, "I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy."

"Can you tell 'em anyway?" He was actually concerned, I smiled slightly, but passed it on.

_Hey, Max, Fang?_

_Holy… buckets, Angel!_

That was Max, I had surprised her into nearly flying into abig pine. Again. Fang wasn't much better, not saying anything but I could feel howsurprised he was and he dropped altitude for a moment.

_Iggy just wants me to tell you guys to watch out for lighting._

Both of them were surprised. I told Iggy and he shuffled his feetself-consciously.

_Oh, okay. Thanks, but you should go to sleep, sweetie. It's late._

_You and Fang are out. _I pouted.

_We're relaxing. Winding down._ That was Fang.

_Okay_. I placated them, not having any intention of entering the world of dreams again. Bye, goodnight.

'_Night._

_Goodnight, Angel._

"Message received." I reported in a pilot voice. "Over."

That put the smiles back on their faces, but I continued. "They're fine. Inthe woods. Fang put it as 'winding down.' As if you need winding down after an eight hour flight."

We sat in silence again, all of us too tired to actually get up and go to bed.I was about to fall asleep again when Max's mom questioned me quietly.

"Angel, and Iggy, I guess. I don't mean to sound me or cruel or uncaring or

anything, but does Fang talk more when its just you six than here?"

There was no hesitation in my reply. "Fang thinks enough for this world and the next, and that's speaking, for me."

Then Iggy continued, with a bit of a happy expression on his face. "Sort of. Fang may not talk much, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a lot to say. His opinions and plans have saved our butts just as many times as Max. I don't know if he talks more with us, but he closes up more, I think, when there are people he doesn't know as well. Nothing personal, I mean that as in we've all known each other our entire lives… Anything else sometimes seems insubstantial."

"Mph." Nudge jolted her head from his shoulder, blinking rapidly. "Yeah." She agreed. "He doesn't talk much, but it's like… you know he's there. Whenever one of us is really badly hurt, of course everyone is upset, but Fang's the one who doesn't sleep until he's made sure they can function without him. Seriously. Onetime Max was out for two days at the E house when her wings just suddenly stopped working and she fell off a cliff. Granted, that might just be because she's Max..."

"What do you mean?" Ella asked. "About Max... Are they, together, together?"

"You saw the videos." Iggy gestured to the living room. I was glad he was explaining, but hopefully he would ignore the question about them being 'together, together.' That was their information to spill when they wanted to. "And you'll have to see more tomorrow, or later today, depending on the time, but I didn't come for about three months while those two were all alone. They've always been really close. Those silent conversations? Happen hourly. Max can lie to anyone but Fang, and vice versa. We're all really close, but the rest of us could always tell how, you know, linked they are. That sounds weird. In tune, I guess. Maybe from the time they spent at the School together. You'll see it."

"I dunno if they'd be friends otherwise." I offered. "Sometimes it seems like they're polar opposites, but back… there… there wasn't anyone else."

Iggy agreed. "They were each other's first friends, best friends. Even when there was all of us in that tiny room and Fang wouldn't talk to anyone but Max, their cages were pressed close enough together that they would stay as close as possible all night. What did they call it in school? You know, simile, I think. They're like back-up batteries. Always there for each other."

"Iggy," Nudge mumbled into his shirt, "'Think 'ts most touching thing y've said. Ever." Her words were all slurred like a drunk from her lack of sleep. Iggy blushed.

"Oh, remember the time when Ari shredded Fang up?" I asked Iggy suddenly. He rolled his eyes in a 'how could I forget?' expression.

"Well, Max was totally torn up and I could tell she was totally stressed out and everything."

"Bad example. Anyone would be stressed out. I felt like I was gonna throw up and I couldn't even see it."

"Fine." I huffed. "Then when Max taught Fang how to fly properly? Like, just the basics. And how they shared a room the first month in the E house..."

"You don't remember it."

"Yeah, but everyone else does "

"How 'bout," Nudge tried to sit up, but fell into Dr. M's lap, who then helped straighten her out. "When Max was cloned and Fang was the only non-mind reader who didn't know?"

Iggyand I both nodded appreciatively. Best example so far.

"Cloned?" Ella was clearly horrified.

"Yeah," Iggy touched her shoulder reassuringly. "Sadly, it's a legit concern in our life. They cloned Max, kidnapped her, replaced her with the clone, and we all thought she was off that day, but then Fang knew."

"How?"

"I don't know, he just said-"

"I do." I offered. He breathed an 'of course' which I ignored. "They looked identical, nearly acted identically, but then she offered to cook breakfast." That easily produced more rounds of laughter, everyone there knew what a catastrophe Max could cause with toast.

"Is he naturally quiet?" Dr. M persisted. "Or was it... the man, earlier?"

Iggy shrugged, suddenly very tense. Neither Nudge nor I knew, either.

He talked to Max before, more than he often talks in a week." Iggy pointed out. "But it can't have been. The whitecoats can't get him to do anything, can't get information from him. I don't see how it could be possible."

"He was certainly affected by watching it." I mumbled. "Max was terrified for him, and then when he stormed out..."

And then Jeb spoke for the first time, directly to us birdkids. "Iggy, Nudge, Ang, I know you sometimes may think of them as indestructible, but they're not and never were. Fang and Max were four when that film was taken, and I'm not trying to sound like Jesus or anything, but I certainly never did anything to Max that was done to Fang. Others did, of course, as I was often away for weeks at a time, but that happened to Fang every day. It's impossible for him to not have been affected by it."

Ella yawned. "Well, Angel," she addressed me, "If you're sure they're fine I think I'm going to bed. Want to come?"

I shook my head. "Not yet, I should remain in contact. And I'm a bit hungry, honestly..." Though we were pretty much always hungry. I hadn't eaten much at dinner, I'd had an idea of what Jeb might have been showing us and just wanted to be sure I wouldn't throw up.

**Max Point of View**

Laughing, I spun around trees, dodging in and out of them with Fang right below me, like a shadow. The thunder and lightning only added to our exhilaration and the fierce, fierce joy of just flying. At the sound of my laugh, Fang reached his hand up to grab my own and squeezed it once. I looked down at him again, seeing him staring up at me and all I could think was...

Ouch. A branch whipped across my face, but Fang snatched me before I could regain any altitude, even though I hadn't been in any real danger of falling. He was always there for me, so even with a throbbing head I grinned in his arms. Carefully, I reached up and stroked his cheekbone with my forefinger, chin to ear and back. Another bolt of lightning lit up the forest, highlighting his face but still slightly worrying me.

"Lets go down, that was closer."

Fang simply nodded and dropped me lightly onto my feet, but he didn't let go of my hand. I was about to suggest heading home, Mom would be worried, but just then I heard something in the woods.

"Get down " I hissed at Fang, pulling him with me into the mud below. We crouched on our stomachs, heads up just enough to look around.

But Fang wasn't bristling, defensive, even looking like he cared that I had just heard something in the woods. Another flash of lightning showed that he was just looking across at me with a bit of a humorous twitch on his lips. He leaned closer, and despite the apparent danger, I'll admit I sort of lost my train of thought when his eyes came within inches of mine.

"Max," He breathed, exasperated, "It's a forest. There are plenty of sounds and-ah. Look."

A rabbit burst out of the undergrowth, and suddenly I felt very stupid, so trying to mask it, I just glared at him.

"Max." Again, he said my name sending a little tremor through my body. "You don't mean that, do you?"

I thought about it. "Nah," I brushed the glare away, grinning, "guess not."

"Good." Fang then surprised me even more than the rabbit had, wrapping his arms around me and dragging me across the mud closer to him, and then he was kissing me.

I freely admit that I did not run away. I did not fly away screaming. The Voice did not interrupt at a very bad moment. I did not freak out and scream, "Oh my God, Fang!" I did however lean right into his chest, allow his arms to hold me tight and kiss him back.

And even though I was covered in mud, would be shivering without him, and was in the middle of a forest in a lightning storm (real smart, I know. Save the

lectures for school), I was in heaven.

**Angel Point of View**

"Oh!" I squeaked, spraying rice out of my mouth. I hadn't meant to watch Fang and Max, really. I didn't, I swear it But don't tell her anyway, she'd tear my head off. But it was unavoidable, suddenly their emotions were overflowing and... It was _soo_ cute

"Whaa?" Iggy's head pulled up from the table, a bit of drool on the side of his mouth. "Is it Max and..."

"No, they're fine." I giggled, they were a bit more than 'fine'.

**Max Point of View**

Again, dirty minded children in the back, it wasn't much more than that. Wekissed, then broke away, gasping for air. We were both on our backs, lookingat each other. I was elated to see that his eyes no longer had a single traceof emptiness in them, I doubted that mine did, if they ever had any. But ourmushy moment was broken when I shot up with a sneeze, then fell back in themud. I felt his fingers on my forehead, brushing my bangs out of my eyes.

"Probably should go back..." He muttered, looking just as disappointed by it as I was. However, I did know I was running on adrenaline and that pretty soon I'd crash and I wanted to be in bed when that happened, so I nodded, sneezing again and let him help me up.

"You okay?"

"Health wise," I shook my wings of mud, "Yes, but honestly," I would never have admitted this to anyone but him, "That movie was just… I'm a little shaken, you know?"

"A little," he snorted. "If only."

"Same," I brushed a stick from his wings. "C'mon, mom's gonna kill us, if not for our lateness then the dirt."

"The house always seems to get dirty whenever we come." Fang smirked; laughing, I nodded and pulled him into the air.

"Want to warp back?"

"Hell no. I saw you fly into that tree."

"It was the wind!"

"Suuure."

But I was secretly glad, I'd be in heaven a bit longer yet. Even if heaven was a storm with heavy wind and rain.

**Angel Point of View**

"They're coming back now." I announced, this time jerking Dr. M awake.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I should probably be angry... It's one in the morning, but I'mnot. How soon?"

I guessed, but they didn't seem to be in any hurry. "'Bout half hour. Youshould go up, but could you and Jeb bring a mattress and leave it on the floor** i**n Max's room?"

They nodded, not asking.

"Sure," said Jeb. "I'll be leaving soon after."

I didn't reply and watched as he retreated to the basement to grab a sparemattress.

_Promise you'll go back to bed soon, Angel_. Dr. M now thought to me. _It's been____a long night._

"Okay, good night." Then I got up and skipped over to the sink. Two water glasseswithstraws, two without. Max loved straws and used them whenever we had them. Ithought it was hilarious. Fang, not so much.

"Iggy, Gazzy wants you." I mentioned casually. My brother was having a baddream, and only his best partner in crime would calm them. Needless to say,Iggy bolted up the stairs faster than you could say 'bomb'.

"Nudge, write them a note, will you? They will kill us when they get if we'restill awake." I set the water glasses out as she snatched up a pen and paper,luckily too tired to talk about and dissect the words I told her in my mind.

_Max, come through the front door._ I instructed her wearily while laying out towelsfrom the door and up the stairs to her room in a sort of path for dripping mudand water. Nudge put the glasses on the mat. When our work was done, wetrudged wearily to Ella's room, luckily not on the second floor, I don't thinkI could've gone upstairs again to run away from Erasers. Then, I collapsed inbed and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

**Hope you enjoyed the revised edition, I like this chapter a lot, even though I normally don't have this many point of views. See you!**


	6. The Cutest Damn Thing

Hmm, shall I put up chapter six? Five was a bit short compared to some of my others, but I think I will anyway. Just please review, that button is lonely! There was a review about them all being the same, well if that's your opinion that's fine, but I'm adding some stuff (action) soon involving fireworks and rattlesnakes, but I don't know if there's going to be anything like flyboy attacks for a while. If that's what you want, feel free to read THE WINGS OF WRATH or BACK TO WORK or any other action-y fanfiction. Just as a heads up to everyone, and now, wait for it, CHAPTER SIX!

Chapter Six: Max Point of View

Carefully and silent as a shadow, Fang and I slipped through the door and nearly tripped over the waters at the foot. Angel really was such a sweet kid. We chugged them down, and read the note pinned underneath them. There were two moisture rings from the two glasses keeping it in place, but it was still legible.

_Max and Fang,_

_Please come in quietly, as you can guess, everyone will be asleep by the_

_time you get back. If you're hungry, there's leftovers in the fridge (if Angel doesn't eat them all),but put towels in front of you to keep the floor clean._

_Dr. M says next time you flood the kitchen with more water than Arizona gets_

_in a year, she's gonna have to kill you because as founder of the CSM, she can't_

_be found wasting so much water. But Angel says she was kidding, but I don't_

_think she'd kill you guys anyway and Angel's telling me to get on with the letter._

_Anyway, where was I, towels, yeah. She left them leading up to Max's_

_room and Jeb and Dr. M left a mattress on the floor for you, Fang. We_

_thought you guys might wanna share a room tonight like you did for the first_

_month or two at the E house cause, like, if we were all shaken from the video,_

_we figured you guys would be and that's what you always do when you don't_

_wanna admit it to anyone of us. So, yeah. That's what me, Iggy and Angel_

_think. If you need to take a shower cause I bet you're freezing, just use_

_the towels behind you. _I checked behind me, sure enough there was a pile of clean towels. They were great.

_But use the shower upstairs since the downstairs one is right next to_

_Ella's room where Angel, Ella and I are sleeping. There's some PJ's in there._

_And this is from all of us: Jeb's sorry he had us watching that movie, and_

_we all hope you guys are okay. Angel told us you were winding down, but if I_

_Wasn't for watching you two I'd be asleep right now, so we can't imagine how_

_you guys are feeling._

_See you tomorrow,_

_Love, Nudge and Angel, but Angel says Iggy wouldn't want to say_

'_love' but he feels it anyway, so love from Iggy, too. And Gazzy, but he's asleep._

"Now," I turned to Fang who was reading over my shoulder, "If that's not the cutest damn thing you ever read, just tell me."

He shrugged, but did look a bit happy after reading it.

"What say you about showering?" I asked him, scribbling a quick Thanks on the back of the note and leaving it where we found it.

"Quick ones. You want to go first?" Nodding, I grabbed three towels from behind and made a sparse jumping path to the bathroom. Snickering, Fang sat against the door and waited for my record breaking shower to be over (three minutes, counting redressing, three minutes and thirty seconds) took his own, then followed me upstairs to my room. I immediately collapsed on the small bed in the corner (blue sheets, my favorite), and Fang did the same on his mattress a little lower than my bed. Mom had even put some black and green sheets on it.

"Fang?" I asked, burrowing deeper under my covers, but keeping my hand falling down to hold his.

"Mmm?"

"'Just thinking... 'M glad you're here." My words were slurred with my sudden lack of sleep.

"Me, two."

"See you tomorrow."

"'K."


	7. The Magic of Disney

**Chapter Seven**

**So, I updated this chapter because I realized I didn't like it much and changed a few things, like Fang's songs, so please take the time to check it out again and skip all my mutterings in bold at the beginning.**

**Welcome to... Chapter Seven! I'm your host, ivyflightislistening, and I realized a vital error that I probably should correct before I'm sued.**

**I do not own Maximum Ride. There. Only the stupid videos that cause so much friction...vocab word right there, folks! Haha… if only…**

**To be included in the infamous chapter seven: music and action! Whaaahahaa, I know your psyched, so read on and press the little review button at the bottom of the page! I know you don't feel like it, but it's quite wonderful. Just like birthday cake! Which will sadly not be included in this chapter, but maybe I could add some in later. The flock could all get sugar highs! Anyway, before I continue on in a rant about how fabulous birthday cake is, here it is, chapter seven. Whoo.**

Brightness intruded upon my dream, slipping away before I could grasp it assoon as I realized that I was dreaming. Stupid sun. I pulled a pillow over myhead and groaned. No, I hated the architects who placed my room in the morningsun. Why should I save the world for them? I tried squeezing my eyes shut, butthe sun was just as bright. Just as irritating. No wonder I hated it whenothers described happy as 'sunny'.

"STUPID SUN!" I exploded, rolling over in the bed away from the window.

Oh.

Fang being in my room had slipped to the back of my mind. He was laying on hisside, looking at me and still holding my hand. We hadn't let go all night.Headphones were placed in his ears, Ella's iPod in his free hand, he opened hiseyes slowly, regarded me calmly, and closed them again. My bed blocked the sunfrom the window by my head, if only I had slept with my head where my feetwhere. That was still in shadow. I groaned again and flopped back on mypillow.

Fang turned the iPod up louder.

"Oh," I turned back on my side to face him. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

He opened his eyes again, just as slowly as before, and shook his head, then closed his eyes again.

"What're you listening to?"

"A song."

"Somehow, I gathered that." I yawned, waiting for elaboration.

I could see his eyes rolling underneath his eyelids, but he finally added, "The Goo Goo Dolls."

I wondered where you would come up with a name like that.

"Haven't heard them. What song?"

"Name."

I hesitated. I really liked listening to the music Fang did, but obviously I'd have to actually move to borrow one of the headphones.

"Would you mind singing it...for me?"

Fang pulled a face. "Couldn't I just blast the speaker?"

I frowned. "You'd blow them, they're Ella's." Well, maybe not. We, as birdkids, had exceptional hearing, and if I concentrated, I could even hear them in Fang's ears, but he didn't need to know that. Another thing he didn't know? One time back at the E house, we had been listening to the Taylor Twins a lot, and I had walked into the kitchen. We had a big window in the kitchen, with a hanging chair just outside of it, so we could flutter over and sit there like our own personal birdfeeder. Well, the window had been open, and I'd heard him humming to himself, and it was really good. Like, I wouldn't have pegged Fang for having a good voice. He doesn't talk much, doesn't like chatter, but here he was humming, and it was better than any birdsong and a lot of the voices I'd heard since.

Granted, he hadn't known, being half asleep in the afternoon sun, and he hadn't sung in front of me since.

"Please?" I looked at him, "I haven't heard, err, that song before."

He nearly spotted the bluff, but nodded hesitantly.

"Fine, softly. Let me start it over." I waited as he pressed the button, and his fingers began drumming the beat. He hummed softly until the words came.

"And even though the moment passed me by, I still can't turn away." Fang hesitated, seeing me grin, but I flopped back on my pillow and looked up at the white ceiling, allowing the fact that Fang had just sung a line of a song for me. I've never fantasized about having a boyfriend, a dream guy, all the stuff in girlie magazines, but having him sing even part of a song for me just sort of touched my heart in a way I usually don't like.

He cleared his throat, and sang the next line softer still. "'Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose, got tossed along the way. Letters that you never meant to send, get lost and thrown away."

Sort of like the time when Jeb had come back from work with this coughing sickness. We birdkids don't usually catch anything, but Fang and I both got it and completely lost our voices. It was about a week of bliss for Gaz and Ig who got to wreck havoc without me yelling at them. Believe me, I tried, but it only hurt my throat more, so Fang and I retreated away from their taunts and into my room where we basically ate chicken noodle soup, slept, and played hangman on my wall. We got into a ton of fights about how to spell words which started out the letters. Jeb said we were too old to share rooms (Fang had hated being told this) and so sent Fang back to his after I smashed a window trying to punch Fang for telling me I spelled 'tiger lilies' wrong. I found out he was right about a week later when I asked Jeb, but that's beside the point. Anyway, so we continued to argue and play hangman through a nice sized slit I had cut into the wall while Jeb was at work. We put our beds on both sides of it and passed letters back and forth, eventually getting over the arguing (for the time being) and moving onto games like Truth or Dare or just scribbling something to pass the time.

The letters were probably all incinerated now, with the rest of the house.

I twisted in bed to get a better look at Fang, laying on his back on the inflatable mattress. He avoided catching my eye, but continued on anyway. "And now we're grown up orphans that never knew their names, we don't belong to no one, that's a shame. But if you could hide beside me maybe for a while, and I won't tell no one your name. And I won't tell 'em your name."

Appropriately enough; we weren't orphans per say, but close enough. It sounded like he wouldn't let the whitecoats get us. He had used the same tone he used with Nudge back a few days before our escape, when we found out that the whitecoats wanted to exterminate Fang and Iggy. Nudge had sobbed endlessly, clinging to Fang like a leech in their shared cage until he finally pried her off, looked into her eyes, and spoke for the first time in months.

"I won't let them hurt any of us." He had said, and then Nudge had whispered,

"But what about their guns?"

He had gave her this look that easily read 'duh.' "I'll shoot them first."

"You don't know how to use a gun!"

He hadn't dropped his assuring tone, catching all of our attention in the dark days when I was suffering from pneumonia (they had given it to me purposely), Angel had been the most malnourished baby in the world, the Gasman had taken to mimicking random noises, and Iggy still cried over his lost eyesight.

"Nudge," He had said. "I will personally kill all of them before I let them kill even one of us."

And then we had tapped fists with renewed hope, and Jeb had saved us twenty four hours later. I had forgotten about it, not having heard it since, but suddenly I saw the younger Fang, probably still losing his baby teeth, promising to slaughter anybody who got in our way, just to keep us safe. It sort of choked me up.

"Scars are souvenirs you never lose. The past is never far. Did you lose yourself somewhere out there? Did you get to be a star? Don't it make you sad to know that life is more than who we are?"

We both had proof of those souvenirs. Okay, now hold on a sec. You have all read my previous stories, right? And you understand that it takes a lot to get me to cry? This nearly made me. He continued with the song that really seemed to fit our lives, not coming right out and saying anything, but sort of hiding it behind riddles. I breathed as quietly as I could, wishing I had a recording machine or something because there was no way in hell that he would ever do this again. He had probably his head on a tree or something, but I was okay with that.

He finished the song on a sad note, and closed his eyes again. "I think about you all the time, but I don't need the same. It's lonely where you are come back down. I won't tell 'em your name."

I think about you all the time, But I don't need the same.

Yes he did. He seemed like he had been singing that about me.

I thought about him, and no matter how much he denied it, he did need to know someone was there for him. He was strong, tough, capable of punching an Eraser's lights out at seven, but even he had his vulnerable moments. He also had his moments where he hated my lingering on something, and he'd probably regret ever having sung in the future. Still.

"What're you listening to now?" I begged, leaning down towards him.

"We'll Be Here When You're Gone." Fang didn't open his eyes, but hesitated again before saying it was also by the Goo Goo Dolls. He must have known I'd make him sing it. Then he told me it was sad, but I didn't care.

"Please "

"Maximum Ride," He pretended to scold, "are you begging with me?"

"Yes. Sing it." I demanded, watched him roll his eyes again, and start the song over.

So he began, humming the instrumental as I asked, getting through the beginning in the same nearly silent voice he had been singing with up until then, but after about halfway through the song, he opened his eyes and looked at me. I smiled at him, and even if he didn't show it, I could tell he felt a little better.

Not dropping my eyes, he rose his voice just loud enough to not be classified as an unintelligible whisper. "Now it's all built on our backs, and we struggle to survive. And we'll be standing when you're gone, and we'll be heard again."

Carefully, so he couldn't see me looking, I looked through the crack in the door. Ah ha. Four birdkids, crouched very carefully outside.

_Angel, I'm gonna bring him down for breakfast, leave before he finds out._

_Why? Make him sing another song Why doesn't he sing more often? Iggy's in heaven, he thinks it's the best music he's ever heard._

_I agree, but we're both starving._

_One more? Pleeeasse?_

I looked at Fang again, laying on his mat, eyes closed and looking asleep already. Tempting thought, but no way would he sing if he knew he had a bigger audience. The others did, too, and didn't make a noise. Filthy scoundrels.

Just as I opened my mouth more to offer life servitude for one more song, his eyes opened at the same time as his stomach growled. We were both starved, neither of us had eaten any leftovers the night before, and we had flown and fooled around a lot.

"I was thinking the same thing." But at the same time I told Angel to get the others to scoot, so we got up with stiff joints and tottered to the door. By the time we reached the table downstairs, the rest of the Flock plus Ella was gathered around the table where a stack of pancakes sat. It was a severely diminished pile, the others had already gone through it, but pancakes all the same.

Fang and I forked some onto our plates, immediately devouring them even with the little butter and syrup left. Hey, they're not desert rats, so I'm good.

"So what did you guys do last night?" Ella asked slyly. I brushed it away coolly.

"Fang nearly flew into a tree."

"Correction," he muttered, "you almost flew me into a tree. You were the one who actually flew into one."

"Because of the lightning " I protested, crossing my arms. He elbowed me, then inhaled another pancake, rolling his eyes.

"You just keep telling yourself that."

Refusing to let him get to me, I retorted, "Don't worry, I will." Then bit down a bit to hard on my pancake and biting my tongue, I then punched Fang as he snickered. Ella was now biting her cheek, trying to laugh when-

"Gazzy? Ig?" I called, a dangerous note in my voice. I listened carefully and heard Iggy swear from the living room.

"Language " I barked at him.

"Now we're dead." Gaz complained, "quick, hide everything "

"Bring whatever you're working on in here right now or I swear you're birdfeed." Get it? Birdfeed? Like, we're 2% bird? Never mind.

I heard them muttering, trying to think of an escape plan. I began to count. "Three... Two..." They scrambled into the room. I glared at them until a sheepish expression finally crossed their faces. Of course, it was totally fake. I swore they practiced in a mirror. I was about to start ranting, but Ella beat me there.

"Guys," she giggled, "Not that I don't find this amusing, but really, I don't want you to blow anything up here. I'd be rather put out if you destroyed all my stuff and it'd be hard to make cookies without an oven..."

"HERE!" They pushed the mesh of wires, clocks, and stuff onto my plate (coating it with syrup in the process). I got it now, just threaten them with cookies and they would do what I wanted. Mental note: Thank Ella. Now the pair sat across from me at the table and looked at my sister.

"What's the plan?" Nudge asked. "Now that Fang and Max have finally gotten up, not that it's your fault or anything 'cause you were up really late last night and we all had breakfast now and you just have to get dressed we were thinking that maybe Ella could show us around the town. Like parks, malls, shops, zoos, stuff like that, you know and I was also thinki-"

I think its amazing how we've perfected the ability to all say her name at the exact same time in the exact same tone saying, yes, we love you, Nudge, but its early in the morning and for the love of God, shut up.

"My ears! They're bleeding!" Gaz theatrically clutched at them and slid to the floor.

"Mall? Max can we please go to one?" Angel put on her best Bambi eyes look, so I looked at Ella instead. "Or a park?

"Where's mom?"

"On call, for her vet office, she said we could do whatever as long as it was legal."

Fang sighed and slumped in his seat, "Dang." And he and the boys slapped high fives. I rolled my eyes, even though I admit I did laugh a little.

"Fireworks?" Iggy suggested, pulling the Gasman from the floor. "Gaz and I here could provide the best display Arizona has ever seen."

"No." I refused quickly, whatever happened to 'lie low'? But at the expression on their faces and my want of something other than the mall or a populated area, I rethought my answer slowly. "Maybe a really small one later, we can bring Ella to Lake Mead or something." This made Ella brighten considerably, but she still looked nervous.

"Like, fly?"

"You're light. I'll carry you. We can go to the hawk cave and watch it over the lake."

"If mom lets us."

"I'll take care of that, but would you?" I smiled reassuringly. I mean, it might be a little nerve wracking for someone without wings to be up as high as we flew, but it was still flying. Ella would have a blast. She nodded, straightening her shoulders, then ruined the brave effect by looking at her hands.

"Yes. I sort of get the trouble you guys have been, like when I first met you, Max. You were thin and beat up with a hole in your wing and shoulder and then Angel was kidnapped. Plus I saw the video last night, so it must suck to be different 'cause you're always wanted for what you are, or hated because of it. Not because who you are, but honestly... I'm still a little jealous. Ever since I saw Peter Pan as a little kid I've always wanted to fly. One time I tried climbing on the roof and thinking happy thoughts, but I broke my arm."

"Peter Pan?" I asked. "Isn't that like, a movie or something?"

"Yeah," Fang nodded, "There was a ride at Disney."

"I liked that one " Said Angel. "There were all the kids who beat the meanie pirate."

I nodded, but was distracted by my sister's expression. Ella looked astounded, like we had slapped her in the face.

"You've never seen Peter Pan?"

We shook our heads, Nudge clamping her hand over Iggy's mouth (a change) before he could retort sarcastically.

I swear her face grew paler, but she continued on bravely, even though she sounded like she was asking a fortune teller the date of her death. "Little Mermaid? Beauty and the Beast? Hunchback of Notre Dame? Robin Hood? Oliver and Company? Mulan?"

We all shook our heads. She threw her hands up into the air, then grabbed our plates and nearly threw them in the sink.

"Have you seen _any_ Disney movies?"

"No." Iggy said seriously. I kicked him.

"That's it " Ella exclaimed, somehow managing to shove all six of us toward the living room. "We aren't going anywhere all day until four when Jeb and Mom are coming back and we're watching another of Jeb's videos and then we're going to Lake Mead. Until then, I'm going to give you all the childhood you should have had."

"What?" Iggy asked, sounding slightly frightened. "Like, mushy animated crap?"

"No." Ella shoved us onto the couch and hurried over to a cabinet, pulling out a large plastic container filled with VCRs. Then she proceeded to dump them at our feet and go through them, muttering about importance.

"No," I heard her say, "Not Pinnochio, the whale used to scare me. Lion King is number one, Max, shove it in the player." I did as asked then handed her the remote. By the time, the sign came up on the screen saying 'Now for our feature presentation', Ella had her complete list.

1. The Lion King or 101 Dalmations, whichever we didn't watch then would be first the next day.

2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

3. Robin Hood

4. Beauty and the Beast

5. Thumbelina

6. Hercules

And if we got to it, seven was Oliver and Company and Mulan was eight. Ella said that if we didn't have time today we would continue tomorrow. There were lots of grumbles, but Nudge, Gaz and Angel were psyched. I seriously admit that I thought somebody may have cloned Ella who I know is a firm believer in horror films and Tim Burton humor, but I'll confess, even with Ella sometimes singing along or talking with the characters, Disney movies are a work of art. The soundtracks were pretty good, drawings were fabulous. So here's my review, all set and ready for _The New York Times._

Favorite character in Lion King? Nala and Timon. Nala just because she was a great character, and Timon because I didn't know that meerkats could be funny.

Jolly and Esmerelda were my favorite characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Jolly was Esmerelda's goat with an affinity for finding law enforcement officials and giving them a good kick in the rear. Remind you of anyone? But we all agreed the bad guy, Frollo, was a total creeper with his proclamation to Esmerelda that if she didn't let him hook up with her, he'd call her a witch and burn her at the stake. Pleasant, eh?

And as you can guess, we spread out a bit from our original positions. Fang and I were sitting at the foot of a chair that Ella and Iggy were crammed on, then the other three lounged on the couch.

Angel liked Jolly, too, and we all liked Quazi, the hunchbacked protagonist with the Disney ability of a good voice. Gazzy liked Pumba, a warthog in the Lion King, and a gargoyle in the Hunchback. Both were obsessed with bodily functions. Surprise, surprise. Then Esmerelda sang a song about how her people were discriminated against and hunted down and how she needed God's help, which I sort of related to, minus being religious and a mutant rather than a Gyspy.

Robin Hood was also great. Robin was an all around great person, err, fox, and I was distraught when I thought he died in the end until he popped, laughing, out of the water. Clucky, the football obsessed handmaiden of Maid Marion was a riot. Then it was time for a quick snack break, but we got back to Thumbelina pretty fast. It was cute, but I once muttered to Fang, 'If she wants to live she better stop trusting random strangers.' Because when you're an inch tall, you can't go around trusting anyone you come to! Especially since most of them, like Frollo, seem to have something dirty on the mind. A plus to Thumbelina, though, was the theme song, Let Me Be Your Wings, because Angel loved it and kept singing along which was, quite frankly, adorable.

And now ends Movie Madness Reviews with a Mutant seeing as that a certain mutant fell asleep on her friend's shoulder.

*******

"Max?" I felt my shoulder get shaken softly and my name called again. "Max?"

"Lemmesleep." I mumbled into something firm and hard, but still giving slightly. A shoulder.

"Max, you need to get up. Thumbelina's over."

"Is it?" I felt someone push me upward to sit up straight. I rubbed my eyes and glanced around. "Oh. Hello, Fang."

He smiled slightly and brushed my hair behind my ears. "We got through all but Hercules, and we've got about an hour until Jeb and your mom get back. The Flock and Ella thought maybe some exercise before we watch another..." Fang's whole body tensed. "Video."

Video seemed such an innocent word for something which could easily drive me crazy in different situations. I got shakily to my feet, stretching a bit before allowing Fang to take my hand and lead me outside where the others were waiting.

"C'mon, Max " Gazzy called just as we emerged from the door.

"I'm right here." I muttered, rubbing my eyes again.

"Good, we were just wondering where to go. Ella said she could take us for a nature walk in the woods, on this path she told us about or we could just rough it and come back using our direction sense, you know?"

"Nudge," yawning I glanced at her, "It's nothing personal, but could you please, just, talk a bit quieter? I'm tired."

"Sorry," Fang murmured into my ear, "should I have let you sleep?"

Shaking my head, I replied that Jeb would have a better stay if I got some fresh air. Fresh air=happy Max=not so rude to so-called 'father', Jeb. He chuckled quietly, making sure I didn't stumble.

"Want some Red Bull?" Ella joked, but immediately the Flock bombarded her with screams of "NO!" So laughing, we walked into the woods.

I will admit the woods definitely did prep me for Jeb's visit. We made our own path on the springy leaves, laughing and joking here and there. Gazzy and Iggy walked a bit behind, discussing something quietly. I had a 'choose your battles' moment and let it slide. Angel, Nudge, and Ella were walking with Fang and I when the two younger Flock members weren't diving off into bushes or exploring.

"Angel…"

"Yes, watch out for snakes. I know, Ella. I can try to talk with them, remember? Nudge and I'll be fine."

Ella shook her head, but kept pace with me.

"It does take some getting used to." I laughed, brushing her shoulder lightly. "When she first started talking to us, in her mind, that is, I thought I was going crazy." Ella giggled again, brushing her bangs from her face. She had gotten a hair cut recently, similar to one that I had once had that fell around her ears in layers, but she complained that the side bangs often got in her eyes.

"Speaking of voices… have you heard from the Voice recently?"

"Nope, thank God." Yes, Ella and mom both knew about the Voice. Sometimes, using Fang's fabulous laptop of wonder that not only has solar power but can locate a donut shop in seconds, I used that iChat thingie to talk with my sister.

"Did it tell you to come here?" Asked Ella, "Or did you just happen to show up

at the same time as Jeb?"

"We were heading in this direction, but it told me to."

"And you trust it?"

I was gladly surprised to hear that Ella didn't just take this for granted. She had learned something after spending all this crazy time with the Flock.

"Somehow, I manage."

_Get down._

Immediately, I dropped to my knees, dragging Fang and Ella with me into the bushes. Angel apparently had gotten the message to Iggy and the Gasman because I couldn't see or hear them anywhere.

_Angel? What is it? Flyboys? M-Geeks?_

_Hunter. With a gun, but he's dangerous and his parole just ended, as long as_

_we stay quiet he should leave. I don't trust him._

That was okay... not great, but didn't make my worst ten encounters yet. We could take a man, he was only human, but I hate guns. Maybe it's because of my multiple times of being made into a piñata and my close encounters of spilling all my candy.

I stiffened as I heard light crunching, human on a stick. My hand tightened on Fang's wrist. I could smell the cold, metallic scent of the gun, but tried to keep from shivering. I was begging Ella not to move, who knew why this guy was out here?

_Ang, where are you?_

_Tree tops. Above you._

_And Nudge?_

_Also here._

_Gaz and Ig?_

_Bushes across from you, they're fine._ I breathed out quietly.

_Why can't you..._ I felt bad asking her to do what I was always telling her not to, but different times call for different measures. I heard that somewhere.

_Tell him to leave?_ _His mind's dirty Max, I feel weird entering it. Don't worry, he will leave._

I trusted Angel on that, so I lay back and waited for the footsteps to pass.

"Max..." Ella breathed, just above silence.

"Sshh."

Her hand crushed my wrist, pointing it forward and closer to the armed stranger. I know she's my half-sister, and I love her dearly, but right then I was about ready to kill her. Slowly, so as not to make the bush crinkle, I turned my head and glared at her. But she wasn't looking at me, she was looking straight ahead toward the person's feet which we could see through the roots. Roots don't move though, and it took me a moment to late to realize what do.

Snakes.

Mother of God I hate snakes.

"Western Diamondback Rattlesnake." Ella breathed, just as it turned to face me. Really. Why not turn and bite the other guy? But of course, as I'm Maximum Ride, supposed savior of the world, it had to get all hissy (no pun intended) with me and decide that before Angel even realized what was going on, it had to lunge in and bite me. I didn't even get warned with one of those stupid rattles.

So, anyway. I admit it, I shrieked. I don't know if anyone out there has ever been bitten by one of the snakes considered most deadly in the United States, but it really hurts. The bite, I think on my shoulder, burned like the hottest fire, worse then the brands they had tried us with back at the School (then used immense chemical equations to fix up the scars.) It was so intense I didn't notice when the hunter guy turned with his gun at the ready or when Iggy leapt on him from behind, giving him a concussion. Of course, I was told this later.

"Max!" Fang yelled, sounding like he was talking underwater. I gagged, trying to keep air circulating to my lungs, but all of a sudden they seemed so, so tight, like they were being held in place by ropes. Dimly I was aware of Ella throwing a stone at the snake, allowing it to slither back away.

I didn't have the sense to curse, even mentally, and that, my dear readers, is a sign as I thrashed back and froth in the leaf mold.

"What happened?"

Angel crying it was her fault.

Nudge and Iggy keeping watch, but mostly watching me.

"Fang," I coughed, a rough, racking noise that sounded like I was throwing up. "Fang," I had to tell him something… I was sure of it. Something I remembered about snakes, something from… somewhere? Did I read it? Hear it? Rattlesnakes and birds.

"Rattlesnake," Ella barked, "Move. I know how to fix this until we get her back to mom's. Fang, wrap that strip of fabric tightly around her shoulder, stop blood flow,"

"Fang " It was a gurgle this time, barely legible. "Snake-"

"I'm here, Max." He grabbed my face, holding my head so I could look in his eyes. If only he was a telepath… why didn't he _know, dammit! _My tongue felt thick in my mouth, unable to form coherent words, and my brain felt slow and sticky, equally unable to form coherent thoughts.

"Fang!" Angel. Where was she? Was she hurt? Her voice was normal, unlike mine. I think I threw up some blood... "FANG!" She cried again. "IT'S THE BIRD DNA!"

"What?" He growled, looking at her, but still holding me tightly while Ella seemed to work on my shoulder.

"They did it at the School! Avian DNA speeds the venom process up by about ninety-eight percent!"

Someone swore loudly, but I could only tell because all other sounds were fading out, like I was sinking deeper and deeper underwater… And then I was being scooped off the ground with air rushing around my head and limp wings. Was I dead? I didn't think you could hurt that much when you were dead, like fiery hate was burning away your veins from the inside out and your lungs screamed with no oxygen to inhale.

"Max," Fang pleaded, looking down at me. Ah, Fang was carrying me... "Max, hold on, we're almost at your mom's house. Please, stay with me. MAX!" My eyelids fluttered softly, but I refused to close them completely. Fang. Maybe he'd do something about the pain.

"Stay."

"I will," He promised, suddenly crashing through the sunroof on the back porch of mom's house.

"Fang!" I heard, "4:30, where have you..."

"Snakebite " Fang snarled, "Western Diamondback " I couldn't see. This wasn't normal. It was like I was looking into tide pools of black, with faint images swirling away… there was mom, and somebody else who looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't concentrate long enough on them and tried not to scream as something sent another jolt of pain, wracking my body.

"Fang," I whispered, his eyes, so dark, fading away into the dark. Panicked looking over me and holding, but I couldn't stop, couldn't...

And it went dark.

**So I hope you like the updated version. Before I had the entire songs that Fang sung and no thoughts of Max's in between, but I've read song fics and usually don't like them with just lyrics and occasionally "And so this is why Max loved Fang" or something like that, but tonight I finally got up the will to fix it! You guys are lucky whenever I have writer's block I fix things… Anyway, love you all! Happy February break.**


	8. Have You Ever Looked In A Mirror?

**Chapter Eight**

You know you're going crazy when the voices of Disney characters are all that you hear when you pass out.

It was so dark, I felt like I couldn't breathe, but I don't know if I actually could or not. There was only darkness and the dulling pain that throbbed in my shoulder with every heartbeat. At least, it could have been anything; I just thought it was a heartbeat. It sounded like one in my ears, _lub dub, lub dub._

"_I can get by, but I know so many, less lucky than I."_

Hardly. The pain-so intense the lyrics drifted away as fast as they came, leaving me empty and wondering what happened. And then another shockwave would hit my body and I wouldn't care anymore.

"_What I'd give, what I'd dare, just to spend one day out there."_

I really tried to remember what was happening, what had happened. There had been a path, and... a stranger. Man or woman I couldn't remember, Eraser or M-Geek, but we had hid in... I couldn't remember where we hid, but after that something had rammed into me like a four million pound cement truck, worse than getting shot, walking on coals, burns from ovens, having my face plastered all over a newspaper. Mine and five others. That was six. One was me, two was... Nidge? NUDGE! Two was Nudge. I could just barely see her speckled wings in my mind's eye. So that left four. I mean three-five minus two was three. Three was there, when the pain had started. White. Three was white, Angel! Me; Nudge; Angel; Gazzy, Angel's brother, that one was easy, and Iggy because he was Gazzy's partner in crime. Why couldn't I remember six though? I knew he was important, that he made the difference between life and death, he was the reason for my existence...

"_I think about you all the time,"_ I did. Fang. Fang. My Fang, but where was he? I was surprised that I hadn't thought of him first, I could only see dark, like his clothes.

But not like his hair. Or wings. He had raven wings, night wings, as beautiful and perfect as the open sky filled with stars.

His eyes weren't this kind of black either. This kind was cold and unwelcoming. I hated it. Wanted to leave as fast as I could and never come back, but it was like the bite in my shoulder kept me pinned there. I could look at Fang's eyes forever and enjoy it. I didn't want to succumb to the pain again, the darkness. I wanted to see and move and feel.

Fang when he'd opened his eyes after an Eraser had slammed his head into a rock.

Fang looking at me after he'd nearly been sliced in half by the same Eraser.

Fang kissing me.

His shoulder when I'd cried. His hand when I needed something to squeeze. His laugh when I'd been sad. His voice.

_I'm coming._

**Fang Point of View**

"Fang..." I barely heard it, it could've been a figment of my imagination, but I looked closely at her mouth anyway. Soft, warm, inviting. There was a slight movement of her tongue behind her slightly parted lips. She had said my name.

"Max?" I asked carefully, but she didn't seem to respond. An internal war seemed to be going on in her mind, I could tell by the way a furrow deepened between her eyebrows, her closed eyelids seemed to tighten, her lips pressed into a firm line. I stroked her cheekbone, trying to let her relax, so she could get up. So I could see her smile again, her warm brown eyes roll, her caramel-like brown hair flip behind her shoulder when she was irritated.

"Max?" Again, I whispered into her ear. It could have been me wishing, but I swear I saw her head turn slightly towards me and her face relax slightly. Thank God she wasn't dead. I don't know what I would have done if she had kicked the bucket, but I needed her to wake up soon.

"Angel," I asked, just a little louder. "Can you hear her thoughts?"

"No." My heartbeat stuttered, I'm sure the mind reader heard it. "Well, yes," she amended quickly. "No clear thoughts or words, it's all a jumbling. But we're there, the Flock."

**Max Point of View**

I heard my name, and could remember it. Where had it come from, though? The voice was so perfect, so familiar... Fang. He was there, I didn't know where, but he was. I needed to get up, the black wouldn't just leave on it's own, I'd have to leave. First my body, it seemed to be choking me, even though I could feel stale air in my lungs, so instinctively, I coughed. Again, even though it hurt my lungs and body by the movement. Cough. Cough. Now that there was pain in more than my head, I could try and move my limbs. I had located them, and even though it hurt, I wouldn't lose them again.

Waist. I had to sit up; dimly I felt a hand on my back as I kept coughing.

"Max?" I heard a voice call my name sounding incredibly worried.

I nodded, squinting my eyes shut with the force of the coughs. The hand on my back just kept rubbing circles between my shoulder blades until I finally managed to stop hacking away at my lungs and open my eyes. He was bleary, but there, and coming into sharper focus with each breath I took.

"Fang?"

And suddenly my ribs seemed like they would snap as he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.

"MAX!" Angel squealed, and judging by the sudden weight on my back, had just jumped on me.

"Hi, guys," I croaked, grinning widely at both of them. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but I need to breathe..." But as soon as they backed off, Nudge and Gazzy, screaming my name, tore into the room and jumped on me, so for a good moment, I was buried under a large group of birdkids. I let them hug me in turn, then slowly turned to see Iggy leaning all wannabe-casual in the doorframe, but I could see his tense shoulders.

"What?" I asked in mock-hurt, "I don't get a hug?" He laughed, then brushed the kids away from me so I could stagger to my feet. Even if I lived with the Flock my whole life, I didn't like anyone seeing me weak, and they were no exception. However, Fang still grabbed my arm and I couldn't shake it away seeing as he was my main support system just then. My legs didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"It's so great your up, Max 'cause we all have been really super worried and none of us have ever been bitten by a rattlesnake before but we figured out that it's a good thing because apparently the 2% bird in us speeds the venom up so that's why I bet it really hurt when you got bitten, except you've only been out for, like, an hour so it's only six now and Dr. M and Ella are cooking dinner and I dunno where Jeb is but I hope he left because he's so obnoxious and none of us actually like him but he left the videos incase we still wanted to watch them which Fang told him you would, so yeah."

"And so," Gazzy announced in a weatherman's voice from TV. "Motor Mouth Nudge has officially just summarized the last few hours events in one sentence. Except for the very important fact that chocolate chip cookies are baking, I repeat, chocolate chip cookies are baking."

I smiled and allowed Fang to lead me to the door. Personally, I was starved, and, I mean, cookies were baking? Like, hello? Most important news of the century?

"Did you still want to watch the videos?" Fang whispered in my ear. I nodded, if I was going to save the world as easily as sitting on a couch watching evil videos of my childhood, I'd do it. At least I wouldn't be stuck in a cage or being shot down by Mr. Chuster's M-Geeks. Luckily, despite the Flock having to watch their torturous beginnings, they didn't mind helping me.

"I think I can walk, now, Fang."

"I don't." Hmm, could the real reason he was gripping my arm so tightly be strictly because he didn't want me to go? That's the real reason I didn't shake him off as we walked into the kitchen and sat on the bench.

"Max, you're awake!" Ella squealed, looking over something spattering in a skillet to look at me. "Mom just stepped out to grab some veggies from the garden, and I'd hug you but I expect burning oil would fly everywhere if I didn't keep it in the pan."

I grinned, leaning back. "Thank you then, for saving us all from the burning oil. You can hug me later." Then her reply was interrupted as my mom walked in the room, carrying some peppers in her hands. Smiling, she walked over to Ella and dropped some of them into the pan before turning to Fang and I and dusting her hands off on her apron. The rest of my winged buddies waited in the doorway for her to move over. Have I mentioned that it was a bit of a cramped kitchen? So instead of leaning across the table, mom just brushed my shoulder with her hand, then took a seat at the head of the table while Ella moved to stir the contents of the pan seated on the counter top as Ig, Gazzy, Nudge and Angel filed in. Just about the only time you'll get us to 'file'.

Ella brought the food over; we served ourselves heaping piles of rice, vegetables, meat and various wonderful foods of the Mexican type and dug in. I used my left hand, my whole right side was still incredibly sore, and I definitely wasn't as neat as Fang. Granted, he's a natural leftie, but whatever.

"What's the plan for the evening?" Iggy asked slyly, glancing in my direction. I rolled my eyes, they would know not even a snakebite would alter the course of events that much.

"Well, I was thinking we could watch another one of those videos of Jeb's, that would be like, two hours?" I began, sucking on my spoon. "Less if we fast forward through when we slept, so that be about seven thirty when we ended. After that,"

"There's an after?" Total looked sick. I hadn't realized he had come back, but he was sitting on the floor (?) With Akila (that's why) licking his plate. I had no idea where Magnolia was, I hadn't seen her since we had arrived and she was out snuffling in the garden bushes.

"Yes, hello, Total. I'm fine, how was your day?" I loved messing with that dog. He turned his back on me and looked at the wall, but then turned back. He's too curious. "Yes, there's an after. I was going to ask mom if we could by chance fly Ella up to Lake Mead for the fireworks display of a century."

Any more utensils that were residing in hands clattered to plates. Iggy and Gazzy looked like I declared them king and their birthdays were to be celebrated every day. Angel, Nudge and Ella turned to each other excitedly, but I looked at mom. I widened my eyes and looked up at her, after tilting my chin down a bit. Bambi eyes. Apparently I was just as good as Nudge.

"You...want to fly...to Lake Mead?" She stammered. "That's hours away, nearly a days drive!"

"We won't be driving." I explained patiently. "Ella's light, we can carry her."

Unfortunately mom provided another hurdle for me to jump over. Her veterinarian mind kicked in. "You were just bitten by nearly the most dangerous snake in all of the United States, Max. With two percent bird blood, the poison process sped up by nearly ninety-eight percent. I can't judge if you can fly to Lake Mead without help," I knew the venom would speed up! That's what I had been trying to tell them. I clenched my jaw, then loosened it quickly as the Bambi eyes look lessened. "But you most certainly cannot carry Ella."

"I won't. I agree; I can't lift a spoon right now, with my right hand. But Iggy is quite capable of lifting multiple spoons, if you know what I mean."

Dear God, if you're listening, never let me forget the expressions on Iggy and Ella's face. Seriously. Priceless. They both turned beet red and looked at their plates. Fang elbowed me softly as if to say 'good one'.

"When would you get there?" Mom asked, her face pale.

"Depending how fast we fly and on the wind, which judging by earlier shouldn't be too bad, maybe two hours."

She just mouthed_ two hours _to herself. I love my mom, really, I do, and this just proved how cool she was when she said: "Ask Ella."

"We already talked it over." Ella mumbled, still blushing fiercely. She didn't mention when we 'talked it over' that I was planning on carrying her.

"You sure?" Mom asked, looking from Iggy to Ella.

"I can carry Iggy's supplies!" Gazzy exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement anymore. "So it's easier for him to carry Ella."

"Fireworks?" Total asked, jumping up to Angel's lap. "Hosted by flying birdkids? Count my fair lady and I in."

Fang groaned quietly in my ear, then said louder for all ears in a very irritated voice.

"Fine, I'll carry your million pound 'fair lady'."

"Now you've done it." I whispered, smirking, in Fang's ears. Total turned slowly to look at Fang with fire in his little Scottie eyes. Then, he leapt onto the table, and stalked around the plates to sit on Fang's emptied one.

"Akila, the Goddess of Dogs, does not weigh a million pounds."

"Oh?" Fang asked innocently. "Are you sure? Why don't you carry her, then, check up on that."

Total seemed a little fazed by this, there was a little flicker in his voice, but he pressed on. "I will, then. Dogs are strong." Then he unfurled his little black wings and crash landed on the floor next to Akila. Silently, he picked himself up, stretched, and then grasped Akila's collar between his teeth. She looked at him as if to say, "what are you doing?"

His little black wings buzzed, lifting him up, but Akila seemed annoyed and shoved him away, then turned back to her food. He collapsed on the floor, but barked something at Akila. She barked back, then he wearily jumped to Fang's plate again, and lay there gasping, saying,

"Not...a million...only...eighty-one."

"They can stay here," I told Fang, "keep mom company, that's twenty pounds less than you."

"Do you want to hear him whining for the next ten years?" Fang asked, rolling his eyes. "I thought not. I'll carry her."

Men are so irritating sometimes, they have to be all macho and "I can carry a car from here to Australia then play hit-and-run with kangaroos". But if he really wanted to...

"I'll carry Total when he gets tired. "Nudge bounced over to me and pulled me off the bench, "but we should start the movie now so we have time to get there and everything, you know?"

"Wait!" Mom began, "Are you staying there overnight? It'd be at least eleven thirty by the time you get back. It should be warm tonight, why don't I just grab some light blankets for Max and Angel to carry and put some energy bars in Gazzy's bag?"

"Yes, and cookies!" I attempted to run over and hug her, slightly difficult in the small dining area, allowing her to kiss the top of my head, then darted into the living room with her toting a plate of cookies.

Gazzy was searching the briefcase for the tape Jeb had helpfully labeled "Two" and the rest of the group was sprawled out in various places. This time they were prepared. Angel, Nudge, and Ella all sat in a group next to Iggy, where I guessed Gaz would also sit. They were lined up against the couch; Fang was leaning against one of those footstool things that big squishy chairs come with at furniture stores. I guess they have some big fancy name, but footstool is good enough for me. Grabbing six cookies of the larger kind, I sat next to him and passed over three.

"Ready?" Gazzy asked, grabbing the remote but looking at me. Not in the slightest.

"Yeah," but even I wasn't ready that as soon as he pressed play and the picture immediately appeared on the screen. There were two little birdkids on the screen, Fang and I, both facing the door in out cages as with a 'whoosh' the doors sprung open. A whitecoat, tailed by three Erasers, piled in. I don't think they thought we could understand English because they talked freely without disguising what they were going to do.

"You two, each pick up an experiment," the whitecoat demanded, "and you," he gestured to the last Eraser, "I need you to do exactly as I say. The outcome of this test relies on your ability to cooperate and follow instructions. If you fail to do so, the Director will hear about it."

The Erasers immediately stopped joking around and poking their claws into the cages holding Fang and I. The whitecoat left the room, the three Erasers followed. There was a little blip of black, Jeb must have edited them to put as much onto one tape as possible, then a bizarre room appeared on the screen.

There was a large window, behind which sat the two Erasers that carried the cages, and the whitecoat. The last one was standing at the end of a tunnel-ish room, at the other a huge vent. Fang and I, judging by our positions, had been dumped on the ground. However, we were quickly scrambling to our feet, and even then, we fell into sloppy defensive positions. My arm was still at an awkward angle, and I could tell that it was weakening the younger me. The Eraser was laughing evilly and making gnashing sounds with his teeth. Then a voice from a hidden intercom echoed around the tunnel, making Fang and I shrink.

"Air speed, starting at forty miles per hour. Time, four hundred hours MST. Specimen numbers, 10442 and 10447, avian-homo sapien cross. Beginning in three...two...one."

The voice ended abruptly, but just then the vent shuddered to life and the younger Fang and I were suddenly thrown into the air with the force of the wind.

"Air speed, forty-five miles per hour and rising at five MPH a minute."

"The Eraser!" I howled, spinning through the air into Fang.

"Wings!" He yelled back, unfurling his own. I winced and grabbed his hand as the Fang on the screen's face screwed up in pain at the force of the sudden wind pressure, he did however, manage to beat his way away from the Eraser. He grabbed me; I was still scrambling around on the floor and yanked at my wing. I didn't shriek in pain, but my face contorted as I was caught up just the way Fang had been.

"Fifty MPH."

Fang and I were knocked back some, our faces screwed up in concentration at not becoming Eraser food. Black and tawny, our wings beat in stumbling, shaking movements. Already there was sweat on both of our brows, and my longer hair was whipping all over the place.

"Increasing by fifteen MPH." Fang slammed into the wall and began to drag toward the drooling Eraser at the end of the tunnel, but before he could go anywhere, I grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

"Stationary at sixty miles per hour for ten minutes." Fourteen year old me watched in growing fury when on the screen the whitecoat began to jot notes down furiously.

"Bastard." Fang growled, and his hand in mine tightened.

"Couldn't agree more."

This time I slammed into the floor as my wings fell out, unused to so much work and exertion.

"No!" The four-year-old Fang growled, diving down to grab my hand, just then:

"Increasing by ten MPH." And both pairs of wings, working so hard and shaking with exhaustion just fluttered down on our backs. Neither of us let go of each other's hands, it was sort of a birdkid jumble as Fang and I flew without wings to the end of the tunnel and into the Eraser's outstretched claws. Even now, seventy-five miles per hour winds are rough and hard to fly in, but that tunnel was the first time either Fang or I had flown and neither of our wings were up to it.

Blood appeared as the Eraser grabbed Fang's leg. Apparently he had been expecting us to just flop down. However, exhausted or not, I began to violently hit the Eraser with my good arm as Fang twisted around like a wildcat. The wind was still going strong, tossing both of us around, I grabbed onto the Eraser's leg and dug my nails into it, then spitting as blood hit me in the face. Fang was thrown away by the wind, but the Eraser still held him tight, until suddenly with a resounding 'crack' Fang paled and stopped struggling for a moment. I watched as a red spot appeared on his leg and began to expand quickly. My younger counterpart noticed that the Eraser now seemed to have more time to kick at me. I watched myself look up, then narrow my eyes in fury and launch myself at the arm holding Fang.

"I didn't know you bit him." Said Fang conversationally.

"It would seem." I replied, watching myself sink my teeth deep into his arm. He howled and threw Fang so he could grab me with both hands and slam my head into the wall behind him. Even injured, Fang growled and began to crawl forward, leaving a blood smear on the floor, until he reached the foot and sunk his teeth into the Eraser's foot. Then the picture paused, and I looked at Gazzy, proudly welding the remote.

"Notice," he raised his arms up, "Fang's namesake. Now continuing." I rolled my eyes, his brief statement loosening me up.

The Eraser howled, a bone-chilling noise, and dropped me, now limp, to sprint toward the fan away from Fang, but Fang didn't give up that easily, even with a broken leg. Fang hung on like a pitbull, using his hands to help him stay hooked on the Eraser. There was a faint crunching noise, only picked up through the sensitive speakers of the School.

"You broke his foot?" Nudge gaped at Fang. He shrugged. The Eraser stumbled, screaming onto the floor. The whitecoat just kept writing things down, to my extreme amusement. He didn't care anymore about the Eraser than us. Again he howled and grabbed Fang's head and tried to tear it from his foot, but Fang's teeth were still embodied in the muscles and they were torn even more. Furious, the Eraser kicked at Fang's head, over and over. Fang didn't let go, but he did stop wiggling around.

"Your leg," I whispered. Next to me, Fang shrugged again but it wasn't really a casual one, there was too much tension for that. It was bleeding heavily; Fang's whole pant leg was soaked in blood. Back in the corner, I lifted my head weakly and looked at the scene before me. I tried to push myself forward, squirming like a worm chopped in half. Fang was still hanging on, but not by much. The Eraser hit his head again. I was almost close enough, sneaking up on his back, so I raised my fist and slammed it down on his foot, just as the foot collided with Fang's head again and he flew backwards to where I had been. Furious, the Eraser spun and lifted me above his head and threw me back at Fang. I landed on his bad leg, and just managed to roll off and onto my back before we stopped moving.

"Decreasing wind speed to zero."

As soon as the vent turned off and the airflow stopped completely, whitecoats rushed into the room. Mom exhaled, Ella sighed, "Finally," but the Flock and I knew better. They pushed Fang and I apart so that we were lying on our backs and they began to examine us, muttering back and forth to each other.

"Experiment number 10442 has a concussion, broken arm, but that was prior to the wind tunnel test, numerous contusions and abrasions and is bleeding heavily from a wound in her head."

Someone rolled me over.

"10447, broken shin with protruding bone, concussion, bruises, abrasions, and dislocated arm. Extreme bleeding, transfusion needed."

Fang stiffened beside me.

"There are no other avian-homo sapien specimens here, though." Another whitecoat stated. "Any other blood would kill it."

"Him." I snarled aloud, not even realizing it until Fang looked at me and dipped his head.

"There's 10442, but it's already lost enough blood. It's stable, but not enough for the both of them.

"Of course it doesn't have enough blood for the both of them, it's just one, not two!" Another whitecoat shoved the one who had just spoken. "We can just use some of 10442's blood to stabilize 10447. Both of them will be unconscious for at least the next twenty-four hours, and when they do wake they'll be weak and it would be easier to complete the immunity tests that we've been wondering about."

"Yes, Runksmeier, in the meantime, heal the concussions. Not the limbs, they don't need their arms and legs to cooperate." The whitecoats nodded in unison, then broke up the two Erasers that were jeering at the one we hurt-"you got beat up by mutants!"-to shove us back in our individual cages and carry us back to the white room.

The screen went black. It was quiet for another moment before-any guesses? Yes? You, in the back...BINGO!-Nudge broke the quiet.

"You know, I don't know why the Erasers thought you were mutants. I mean, have they ever looked in a mirror?"


	9. Of Tubby Fat Men and Bebopulation

**Chapter Nine**

The black wasn't the end of that video, though. It automatically fastforwarded until Fang and I woke up after being slightly patched up and thrownback in cages by the whitecoats. I was the first to wake up, judging by Fang'smultiple injuries, it was expected. There were five sandwiches piled in frontof my cage, along with a picture that I recognized as Jeb. I had learned toread after he had rescued us, so I guess that was his way of saying he had beenthere. Quickly, I reached through the bars in my cage and squished themthrough. They were a bit misshapen, but I quickly tore into one. I couldn'ttell what kind they were from the screen, but I managed to eat half of one inone famished bite. Then, Fang groaned in the cage beside me, stillunconscious, and I looked back to my sandwiches. There were now four and ahalf, and though I didn't know that then, I knew equals.

I pushed two and the half into the bars of his cage, then sat with my backagainst the side of the cage so I could still eat and look at Fang. I sat likethat for a good five minutes until the aroma of the sandwiches woke him up.

From the position of the camera we could just see his eyes opening slowly, black eyesstare around, until he closed his eyes again in pain and pushed himself up. Theyounger me's eyes widened and I painfully scooted myself forward.

"I gave you some food." I croaked, my head injuries making my head soundslightly Elmer Fudd-ish. He looked at me, then at the food, and tentativelystuck his hand out to grab a sandwich. Slowly, he brought it to his nose andsniffed it.

"Where's yours?" He croaked through his teeth, clenched in pain.

"Ate them."

Without hesitation, he nibbled at a crust, but then heaved forward and spat between the bars of the cage. A little red spot appeared on the floor, he did it again.

"What are you doing?" Mini me leaned forward and carefully lifted my good handto reach between the bars to touch his shoulder. We were barely close enoughfor it.

"Eraser." Spit. "Blood." From the camera's view, we could see his teeth,ringed and stained with red.

"Oh, yes." I said. "Take a bite of sandwich. It'll get the taste out of yourmouth, gross, isn't it?"

He stopped spitting and looked at me. "You think?" But he took my advice andtook a bite. Eyes widening slightly, he took another, and quickly polishedthem off. When he was done, he took a position similar to the one I had so hecould rest and look at me. It was then that I had noticed he was stillbleeding in the leg. Now it was more oozing than bleeding freely.

I leaned back in my cage and slammed into the other end so it skidded forwardand banged into Fang's cage. He yelped as his leg was jarred, but pressed hislips together afterward.

"Lemme see your leg." I demanded, eyeing it. Fang narrowed his eyes andseemed about to shake his head, but it seemed to hurt to much so instead hesaid,

"No."

"It's still bleeding!"

"No."

"There. Is. A. Freaking. Bump. In. Your. Leg. Now. Let. Me. See.It."

Fang hesitated, then carefully rolled his pant leg up. "More." He did, andthe me on the screen tried to refrain from recoiling. Back in the living room,Fang stiffened into a board, staring at his feet. It was hard to make anything out, his entire lower leg was stained a bright red. The broken bone had pierced the skin.

I didn't say anything to Fang back in the living room, who had instinctively,reached his hand forward to grasp the place on his leg where he still sported a scar. On screen, I wastrying to convince him to let me wrap it up with a shred from my shirt. Justbelow the knee, part of the shin was poking through the skin. It was coated inblood. I wasn't worried about Nudge burying her head into Iggy's lap or Angelwith her hands over her eyes or Iggy going back and forth between asking Ella what was happening and then saying he didn't want to know.

I rested a hand on his arm, and my other hand over his, looking into his blank eyes and then leaning my head on his shoulder when it was clear words would not suffice. On screen, Iwas trying to convince Fang to let me fix the wound. He just kept muttering "no"over and over, not sounding like he meant it but he didn't know what else to do.

"_Look_!" I snapped at him, banging on the bars, "I never want to go back intothat tunnel, I don't know about you. But I don't think they'll care much about whether we want to or not! Idon't know if you noticed, but we're never gonna get anywhere better than this.They call us 'it' and 'specimen.' We're never fed, we're thrown around byErasers and tested on by the men in white. I want to leave, the whole worldcan't be white because then where would Jeb go? But we won't get anywhere ifyou can't walk _so let me see your damn leg_!"

Fang looked at me, eyeing me closely, seeming to take me in. Judging.

Finally, "Who's Jeb?"

I answered promptly. "My whitecoat."

"There's more than just...this?" He asked quietly, looking up at me throughblood clotted black hair.

"Yes," I tried to nod, winced, and instead leaned closer to him. "He told me. There are these things called 'trees' and they're really bigand green and apparently they smell good and grow really," I stretched out thereally and looked upward, "tall, bigger than this room. Fruit called applesgrows on them. You can eat them and then the fruit juice drips down your chinand they taste really good!"

Fang slowly relaxed and looked at me. He still seemed to be deciding if I was pulling his leg, was another test, or was the real thing. "Seriously?"

"Uh huh! And there's stars which are like little sparkly lights in the skywhich during the day is blue but at night it's dark, like your hair. The sky is like the ceiling, but higher up, and it stretches on as far as you can see. Further, even. Birds fly in the sky." Fangtook his hair between his fingers and looked at it. "But we need to be able torun if we're ever going to see the outside. So can I please fix your leg?"

"If you tell me more about outside."

I grinned on the screen at him. "Deal." He laughed and leaned backward,closing his eyes but keeping the smile.

"You know," I said conversationally, "You look like you have fangs with allthat blood in your mouth." I began to examine his leg closely.

"Like, Eraser fangs?"

"Yep." I tore another length of cloth from the hem of my pants and carefullybegan to put it in place for quick bandaging. Even then I knew that what I wasgoing to do would hurt. Luckily my scrawny little hands fit through the bars of our cages.

"Just call me Fang." He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and biting hislip. I laughed.

"Seriously? Because you can hardly go around being called 10447 what with your rants on names and numbers."

Fang answered quietly, he seemed wiped out. If he hadn't been hurt, he probably would have started harping on me about the numbers all over again. I had heard it a good few times before Iggy came in. "Don't care."

"You gotta care." I replied, moving his pant leg back again and telling him toposition his hand to hold it in place. "It's what makes us different fromthem. Among other things." I frowned. "But yeah, we care. We know what they do is wrong."

He sighed heavily, then I guess decided against it as his bruised ribs moved. "Fangs are dangerous." Around a yawn, he muttered, "I think I'd like to bedangerous. The Erasers couldn't hurt us then."

"Okay then, Fang." He grinned as I used his new name. "On three,"

"Three what?" Fang was exhausted.

"Two, one." I pressed the bone back under the skin. I wrapped my arms aroundFang in the living room as the one on the screen had his eyes bug out in pain,then squeeze them shut again and hiss in pain. Quickly, I wrapped the fabricaround it to hold his leg to hold it in place. I leaned backward, watching him until hefinally relaxed.

"Ahh..." He breathed, looking at his leg, then he looked at me, trying todistract himself from the pain.

"Well," His voice was croaking in pain, "You need a name, too."

And I do believe it's called irony when a tape ends on such a place as this,totally unplanned.

"Fang?" I asked, pulling him to his feet.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Max, I know my name is wonderful andeverything, but you can stop saying it now." I rolled my eyes but didn't letgo of his hand. He squeezed it once and caught my eye.

The others got up silently, mom's eyes were on Fang's leg as we walked (he had dropped the limp ages ago) from the room and out into the yard through the side door. It wassunset, the sun like a fiery ball giving everything long shadows. Nudge andAngel were ready with their wings out and Nudge carrying a small pack ofprovisions. Mom was helping Gazzy get another large backpack around his wings. Ididn't even want to know how Iggy and Gazzy managed to tote all that aroundwithout me noticing. Ella and Iggy were standing slightly awkwardly near eachother.

"Come, oh Shining Sun!" Total nudged Akila towards Fang. She dutifully sat byhis feet, he was unwilling to pick her up until he had to. I didn't blame him.Determined to be the proud dog he is, Total began to flutter around in the air.I shrugged my wings out of my sweatshirt, and tentatively began to stretch theright one. It was sore, but didn't hurt as much as when as I moved my arm. Icould fly.

"Bite?" Fang sidled over to me.

"Fine, but if the rattlesnake wishes to remain not extinct, they should watchout."

Fang rolled his eyes, and in a sudden whoosh of air, unfurled his midnightwings. Everyone in the Flock has pretty wings, they're all such an array ofbeautiful feathers, but it is my personal opinion that Fang and Angel have themost stunning. Angel's are a snowy white that's could only be achieved byfresh snow at midnight on Christmas, and Fang's are like raven wings with a bitof a purple shine in the sun. The rest of us have slightly mottled colors, soFang and Ang stand out.

"Iggy," I tried to refrain from snickering, "You need to pick Ella up now." Heglared in my general direction, but complied. Putting my younger sister andbrother into embarrassing situations just never gets old. "C'mon guys, U andA." I called, and waving to my mom, I leapt up into the air and allowed mywings to take me from there. Fang was a bit behind for a moment, Akilawouldn't leap into his arms, so he actually had to bend down to pick her up.Tragedy. He did, however, catch up quickly, despite carrying an eighty pounddog. My shoulder ached a bit in the beginning of our crusade, but I rubbed itaway quickly, I'd had worse.

"What are you guys planning for tonight?" Nudge asked, "You have that hugebackpack of materials, so it's gonna be big, right? Is it gonna be colorful?Will you start when it's dark, like, completely dark? Because I hate it whenit's at sunset, fireworks are best at complete darkness, not just half, butlike, Fang's clothes darkness."

"Of course, Nudge." Gazzy whapped her with a wing, "Did you ever expect it tobe small?"

No. Fang glanced across at me as if to say the same thing, then swerved aboveme to whisper in my ear.

"If you're tired, just say so." I rolled around so I was upside down but

looking at him, crossing my arms. I didn't really need to say anything, he could see it in my eyes. If he didn't have a malamute in his arms, he would've raised his arms in defense. After making sure he got the point, I spun downward and circled the group before coming back to where I was at the front.

_Enjoying yourself, Maximum?_ I dropped a foot in the air but quickly regained composure before responding with a mental glare.

_Before you decided to drop in._ I could hear the Voice sigh, I hoped it could feel the irritation that spiked in me whenever it came.

_You can't afford to make stupid mistakes, Maximum._

_Max. How many times do we have to go over this?_

_I thought only your close friends called you Max?_ It replied smarmily.

I rolled my eyes. _Point taken. Maximum._

_Thank you. Anyway, the world needs you, Maximum. I just came to remind you of that. Allow me to rephrase my prior statement. The world can't afford for you to make stupid mistakes._

I rolled over in the air, angry. Why couldn't the world just save itselfalready? Then, quickly before it could respond, I added, "_kidding_." It didget old though.

_Yeah, I get it. What's up with you and the Jebster trying to mash this into my skull? No, don't answer that. If you're done invading my personal space, just go._

There was no reply. Thank God it wasn't the kind of Voice who would pretend to be gone then come back chanting "gotcha, sucker!"

"How are you doing, Ella?" I spun around, flying backwards, to look at her.She was looking down in awe, not a trace of fear in her eyes.

"Good." She replied distantly.

"Tell me if you start to feel light headed or anything," I heard Iggy instructElla. "We have air sacs, so we can go higher than you can."

"'K." Shoot. I had forgotten about that, so I angled us downward a bit. Iused the excuse of a large cloud to cover me up and ignored Angel's giggles. Ilooked back at the rest of the Flock. Ella and Iggy were talking, her tellinghim about all the things she could see. Angel and Nudge, who was already carrying Total, were talking over some teen girl's magazine. _Seventeen_, by the looksof it. Great, as if I needed seven and twelve year olds learning how to kissguys or fawning over the Jonas Brothers. I prayed that they at least hadbetter taste than that. That left Gazzy listening to Ella's iPod and flippingthrough all the Taylor Swift songs and Fang taking up the back with Akila. Ifell back a bit to fly with him, he was fine with silence and being alone, butI'd keep him company anyway.

"Hey," he almost smilked as I came over.

"Ready to vote Akila world's heaviest dog?"

"Just about." We smirked at each other. After a moment of companionablesilence, I asked him, "Are you okay? With the movie, and everything?"

He looked down at the ground for a moment, thinking. "I guess, it's weird,seeing it all, especially the stuff I forgot. The first time you offered me asandwich, first time I grabbed your hand, and then it's hard seeing the badthings. Wind tunnel. Erasers. Whitecoats. And we can't do anything aboutit, we literally are just watching our lives go by. I have to keep remindingmyself that we're all safe, together."

I nodded, that pretty much summed up what I was thinking. "I know, and it'sbizarre seeing how reluctant we were to talk to each other at first, since weknow each other so well now. I'd forgotten about how long it took me toconvince you to let me touch your leg."

Fang didn't respond, I thought that was the end of our heart-to-heartconversation thing, but then he looked at me and began to talk very quietly, sothe others couldn't hear. I hoped Angel was very absorbed in her magazine.

"I was so ready for anything." He began. "Just a spark of hope that theremight be somewhere out there, whether it was another room or the 'outside' youtold me about where I might be safe. Even if it wasn't true, what you weretelling me about trees taller than the room or apples with juice dripping, Iwanted to believe it so badly."

I was a bit shocked at him saying this, opening up so much. Even though we werereally close, we didn't go around having heart-to-heart sessions. It was slightly overwhelming.

"I nearly didn't believe him, Jeb that is," I said aloud, "when he first told me. I felt the same way, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come."

Fang didn't say anything more, but swooped above me and kissed the top of my head. I don't know if he was going to say anything more, but suddenly Gazzy exploded. Not that way, thank God, Fang and I were downwind.

"Ella, do you have _anything_ besides Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift?"

"Yes," she responded patiently while the rest of us started cracking up, "Paramore, all the stuff Fang listens to,"

"Exactly!" I elbowed Fang as Gazzy pointed this out with a cheeky grin a Fang.

"Paramore, Augustana, Motion City Soundtrack, songs from Wicked and some of the Disney movies we watched. Play 'Why Should I Worry' by Billy Joel. You might like that."

"Billy Joel?" Nudge asked skeptically.

"Can you sing it for us, Gaz?" Nudge asked. "I mean, if Ella listens to anyone named 'Billy' it has got to be good. I love the music you listen to. I think its so cool how you and your friends have like, music sharing parties. That's awesome."

"Joel actually is pretty good," Fang mentioned. "I have an obsessed blogger."

"Isn't he the one with anger management? Or addicted to drugs or something?" Iggy asked.

"Everyone these days is addicted to drugs, Ig. It's to hard to keep track of them all." Angel said seriously, which to her bemusement made all of us laugh.

By now Gazzy had located the song and was listening through it to make sure he knew it.

"Ah!" He exclaimed. "I know this, I heard it in Texas at that football game we went to."

Then, he began to tap the whole song through until he began to sing. It was catchy, and he had a lot of fun with words like "bepopulation" and "savoire faire." He ended with some mimicked instrumentals and a lot of "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoos" then he finished with a mid-flight bow to Angel, Nudge and Ella's fierce clapping. It was great but there was a fine line between Billy Joel and Weird Al that Gazzy tended to cross all to often.

"Fantastic," I praised him, ruffling his already mussed up hair.

"Max?" Angel asked, handing the magazine back to Nudge. I was instantly aware, when Angel puts away a magazine she's either playing with Total or something is seriously wrong.

"Yes?" Please, please, not another power. Not another power. Not another...

"Do you think people would mind if they saw us?"

"What do you mean?" I asked suspiciously. Was there some CSM meeting we were going to that had slipped my mind?

"Like, on a plane. Seeing kids with wings."

"Well, Ang," I began hesitantly, "I don't know. That depends on the type of

people they are. Why?"

"There's a plane, or glider, I don't know, coming this way, it's behind that cloud." Angel stuck her lower lip out. "There's a tubby fat man who's not nice."

"Tubby fat man?" I giggled. Yes, I, Maximum Ride, giggled, when a mind reader informed me that a 'tubby fat man' was in fact sitting on the plane.

Fang is much better at dealing with tubby fat men. "What kind of mean thoughts?"

"Well," Angel began, "He was yelling at one of the ladies in the tiny dresses who tell you how to use an oxygen mask because she offered him peanuts and he's allergic."

Darned peanut allergies. I love peanut butter, almost as much as Mexican food and cookies. I also love peanut butter cookies, peanut butter crackers, and snacks manufactured in a factory that processes peanuts.

"Not that we don't love tubby fat men with nut allergies, but Angel, would any of them be, like, bad? As in School bad, or Itex, or Chu or director bad?" Nudge looked concernedly at the cloud. "Otherwise I don't mind them seeing us."

"I don't think so, actually, John's on it."

"CSM John?" I asked. The junk food man, as I often mentally referred to him as he had compared my knowledge of junk food to other things. And claimed I went running off. Apparently the Flock agrees with him on both accounts.

"Yep. He's bored and sitting next to the tubby fat man by the window. Can I go wave?"

Um, how about no? Just because we were now international celebrities, it didn't mean we had to go up to random planes at cruising altitude. Unfortunately, Angel was already diving away.

"Angel!" I yelled, then gestured the Flock to stay out of view by the cloud, and I bolted right through it. Ahh, cold, cold, cold! Clouds are not the pretty fluffy things that everyone always dreams about dancing on in ballet slippers, they're cold and wet. Then, my breath was knocked out of me as I slammed right into the plane. Right onto an open window.

I pushed away slightly, but held on, Angel was down the row. Waving cheekily to the passengers inside with their jaws hanging open, I slid down the row to Angel who apparently was sending thoughts to John. Finally, after ignoring the passengers looking at me like the kind of mutant freak I am, I got to the same window as John and Angel.

I waved at John, who waved back with a big smile. Generally, I don't like most adults much seeing as they have this uncanny tendency to try to stick me in a cage or a school, but John's decent.

_He says "hi" and "how are you?" But he's a bit confused on why we're here. _Angel sent into my head.

I rolled my eyes. Anyone would be. _Tell him we're just in the area, and we're good._

_Want me to set up a link between all three of us?_ Huh, I hadn't known shecould do that, but I guess it did come with her wonderful abilities to manipulate the human, or avian human mind.

_Sure_, and then I was greeted a moment later by John's slightly hoarse voice.

_Hey, Max. Haven't seen you in a while._

_Same here, what's up?_

I heard a long internal sigh. _Meeting, with suits and many governmenty 'bigwigs' as you tend to call them. All for the CSM, of course, and I'm happy to do it, but they never seem like they can make up their minds._

_Tell me about it._ I laughed, _and it was nice seeing you, but Fang's carrying Akila, Iggy's carrying Ella, and I'm a bit tired, so I think we'll leave, but it was nice seeing you._

_Yes, of course...wait, what?_ AKILA AND ELLA_?_ John bolted up in his seat, eyesbugging out. _Is there anything wrong? Where's Valencia? What-_

_It's fine,_ I reassured him, _Ig and Gazzy are going to give us a fireworks display up at Lake Mead, mom's fine. _I remembered Akila had been his friend'sdog. _Total is keeping Akila company. I'll give mom your regards, if you'd like._

He relaxed, grinning. _Sure, and I know how you love cameras and people are beginning to get over the initial shock... Give everyone a hello for me._

_Yep. See ya._ I waved, grabbed Angel by the waist (she was communicating witha carry-on Chihuahua) and jumped away from the plane.

Stupid cloud, my wings were immediately uncomfortable and icy, but I warped usforward for a second, and we were out of the cloud. Angel and I looked around,then she pointed. Off in the distance I saw the Flock waiting patiently, andGazzy wave.

"Max?" Angel asked. "Are we gonna warp back?"

I nodded, grinning like the crazy nutcase I am. "Hold on, it's awesome."

I grabbed her around the waist, then poured on the speed. I think I laughed,but it was torn away by the wind, and suddenly I was circling our group until Imanaged to slow. Angel rolled away, giggling madly, already dry despite thecloud exposure.

"John says 'hello.'" I reported, moving everyone forward again and settlinginto a somewhat stable flight pattern, despite my sore wing, next to Fang."And I can guarantee that tomorrow's newspapers will either be about John's CSMmeeting or flying mutant birds attacking a plane."

Fang rolled his eyes, Gazzy rubbed his hands together, laughing maniacally.Nudge was fussing over her windblown hair so much I had to remind her that onlyAngel and I had been in the pictures, but then she looked a bit disappointeduntil Ella pointed out that she wouldn't want to be sprawled on everything allover America in dirty jeans. Perish the thought. If I cared about myappearance, I probably should have been worried about all the flashes in theplane. Oh well, it was a small window.

"Max, are you worried about how you looked? Because, like it's nothingpersonal, but your shirt really would look better with jeans that weren't torn,and there's a bit of blood where you got bit, but Ella and Fang cleaned most ofit up so I wouldn't be too worried. I'm sorta glad I wasn't in the picturesnow, though, because I think my nail polish really isn't the right shade to gowith my shirt, see the stripes?" I nodded to show that in fact, I had seen thegold crisscrossing purple on her shirt and then again to show that her nailswere definitely the wrong type of purple. And that (GASP!) her pinky waschipped. Then, after my responses were deemed unsatisfactory, she turned toElla to appeal to.

"Poor Iggy." I heard Gazzy mutter, then he turned to talk with his sister. Ilooked at Fang, who was looking at me.

"Fang," I said pitifully, "What will I do? My jeans are ripped. This isobviously a cause for disaster, like, worse then flyboys."

He looked at me with raised eyebrows, then simultaneously we burst intolaughter.


	10. Children Present

1

**You know what is just the most fabulous thing in the whole world?**

**CHECKING ON YOUR STORY AND THERE ARE MORE REVIEWERS! Haha, you guys are great. So a huge thank you to the latest wonderful set. MaxRideRox, I like brownies, too, and so I think they win! Here's the next update, the translation was helpful, *laughs* and thanks again for help with the chapters and the second review. To Sydney, thank you, I loved that part, too. I think him being all protective and everything is going to happen a lot! LovelyNBlue, thank you for the second review! I thought the 'tubby fat man' was something Angel might say and I'm glad you liked it! Wow I'm using a lot of exclamation points but I'm soo psyched you guys all reviewed! And now, Strawberry Shortcake 123, another huge thanks, and by the way I love your username! **

**So this update is just for all of you guys, which sounds corny and weird but... yeah, there you go, hope you like this. And I hope you all love crazy cat ladies, coming soon to a fanfiction near you!**

"Going down!" I called back, angling my wings to spiral downward. I vaguely remembered the cliff that seemed to disappear that Fang and Nudge had found when I had first met Ella. If you sat at the edge, you could see out to Lake Mead where Iggy and Gazzy were planning on putting on their display. The hawks that had joined our party shrieked when I spoke and wheeled away, banking then turning upward. I landed unsteadily, but at least on my feet, at the edge of the cliff, then ran forward a bit until I managed to stand. Fang was right behind me, and as soon as he ducked into the cave, and dumped Akila on the floor and managed to land in the back of the cave. We were both breathing heavily, but made room for Iggy who dived in, but tipped Ella gracefully onto her feet. Nudge, carrying Total, Gazzy, and Angel followed close behind.

Before we could even ask-which is saying something-Nudge tossed out those wonderful energy bars, Luna, I think they're called, and they're like a human meal in a wrapper so they're decent snacks for us birdkids. I couldn't even tell what flavor mine was, I just the wrapping off with my good hand and stuffed half of it in my mouth. Then, still chewing, I collapsed on the edge of the cliff so my legs could dangle and the wind could cool my wings off. Fang, already on his second Luna bar sat down next to me.

"That was so freaking _awesome!_" Ella laughed, hugging Iggy around the middle before he could sit down.

"Glad you enjoyed it," He mumbled back, embarrassed. It was then Ella realized what she was doing and let him go, looking down at her feet. Nudge squealed and ran up to hug Ella, dancing around and rambling on about who knows what. I was still eating. I only noticed that she stopped when Ella came up behind me and tapped on my shoulder.

"Max? Mom made me promise to check on your shoulder when we got here."

I groaned, "Couldn't we not and say we did?"

She shook her head, flopping down beside me, already peeling my shirt sleeve back and touching the gauzy bandage there. I held my breath. A mere snake wouldn't make me hiss or wince in pain.

"It's a bit swollen, though that's to be expected..." She murmured, sounding a lot like our mom. "I think your flying has irritated it a bit, but other than that it looks okay. I brought some Neosporin, so let me just slather some of that on..." I guessed she pulled the disinfectant out and opened it, because suddenly all I could smell was antiseptic, and if you know me at all you'd know that's not good. I jumped like I was electrocuted and bumped into Fang, dodging around him before I could stop myself.

Ella's eyes were wide, and she was quickly shoving it back in her bag.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry Max, you must hate me I totally forgot which was totally stupid, here I'll put it away."

"It's fine, Ella. I don't hate you, I overreacted." Carefully, I crawled back over to her, feeling the Flock's eyes trained on my back and nearly hearing Fang's mind. He was worried.

"Sure?"

I nodded, and though I was as tense as... a mutant birdkid who grew up to fear the smell of antiseptic and suddenly smelt it, I allowed her to slather it on. Then after the rather quiet moment of everyone staring at me, I asked all chipper-like,

"Gaz, is the firewood you piled last time still here?"

He nodded vigorously. "Want me to get a fire started?" And there was something about that eight-year-old expression that immediately made me say,

"When I want the world to burn, Nudge will do it." He grinned, theatrically pulling a southern accent and complaining,

"Auh, shucks." And of course with his mimicry it made everyone laugh. Minus Fang, but that really goes without saying, he quirked his mouth though in a little smile. Nudge lit the fire, it was already getting dark, and pretty soon Gazzy and Iggy flew off to prepare there fire show with a bit of light left.

"Moonlight, firelight, cookies, what could be more romantic?" Total sighed dreamily, abandoning his cookie (I stole it) to snuggle up to Akila. If he couldn't talk, I may have actually found their infatuation with each other cute, but he could and therefore it was more irritating and like a Broadway drama.

"I agree, Total." Angel yawned, curling up on Akila's other side, but glancing pointedly at me and Fang first.

_But out. _I directed at her, she just smiled innocently and hid behind the malamute. Fang's so smart, he just ignores her. Across from Fang and I, there sat Nudge and Ella, both chewing on cookies. I wished there was some way to magically make mom's cookies appear whenever I wanted them, but then even with all the exercise, I'd probably puff up like a balloon and be unable to fly.

On second thought, maybe not that many cookies.

"Do you guys do this all the time?" Ella asked, looking around her in wonder.

I snorted. "When we're not running for our lives, eating desert rat or when I'm not trying to confiscate any flammable material that Ig and Gazzy have access to."

"Desert rat?" She asked. I nodded.

"With no A1 sauce. Or ketchup."

"It's why I'm vegetarian whenever I get the chance," Nudge explained. "When we first found this place when Angel was kidnaped and Fang and I were waiting for Max after she first went to help you, Fang pretended some meat he found was desert rat but it was actually kebabs he stole and I had veggies and he had the steak except one time we actually had to eat it, but I'm so glad we've never had roadkill. That would be so gross-"

"Whaat?" Ella asked, looking from me, to Fang, to Nudge, to Angel. We, the Flock, had filled each other in on this part of the story, but I never figured that Ella hadn't.

"You've never heard that story?" Angel asked, sitting up. Ella shook her head.

"I know that one time I told on these bast-uhh, mean kids," she looked at Angel, "For beating up this kid, so they cornered me and were about to hurt me, but suddenly this girl came out of nowhere. At first they thought she was just another irritating gnat they had to deal with, but then she told me to run and beat them up. Later that night she showed up at my house, bleeding and it turned out she had wings. There's more?"

"Uh huh," I began at Fang's nudge. "We lived at the E house, we told you about it, and one day Angel wanted to go strawberry picking," the day was so vivid in my mind, like it had happen moments before and not who knows how long ago. "We all decided to go, but suddenly we were surrounded by Erasers, the wolf/human hybrids, and they kidnaped Angel. We fought back, but they had guns and outnumbered us. We were no match for them.

"Iggy and Gazzy stayed to watch the E house; Nudge, Fang and I left soon after to go back to the School, in California, where we knew they'd bring her. It was a long flight, so we had to stop multiple times. We were pretty close when I looked down, and we have raptor vision, so I saw you and decided to check it out. While I was there, Fang and Nudge stayed here with the hawks until Gazzy and Iggy showed up. They terrorized the Erasers, bombed them, etcetera, so they came here when the Erasers destroyed the E house.

"When I got back, we left to find Angel," I decided to summarize. I wasn't that ready to brag about my driving skills. "But Fang, Nudge and I got captured and taken to the School."

Oh.

God.

Not.

The.

School.

I shuddered, swallowed, then continued. All I could was Angel, with her face yellowed with bruises and injuries and the Erasers and Ari and the whitecoats and...

"Umm, Gaz and Ig saved us. With hawks."

"Then we went to New York City and it was great except for Max's brain attacks from the Voice, but other then that it was awesome!" Nudge exploded, clearing most attention from me. "And we had nishs and popcorn and roasted peanuts. Then we went to the Central Park Zoo, and it was super cool and we saw polar bears. Max wanted to let them all out of their cages, but Fang convinced her they were better off inside them. Then we went to a fancy schmancy restaurant but we flew away. So we went to the beach, and then a high rise, and we found the Institute... And wow a whole lotta stuff happened in New York!"

Nudge finished with an exclamation and tossed her hands out, nearly hitting Ella in the face.

"And I learned how to breathe underwater in New York." Angel mused.

"And Gazzy tainted the whole coast after he tried it." I added, much to the amusement of everyone.

"When did Fang go invisible?" Total, asked, "Was that New York or in Texas before the football game?"

"Or Florida?"

"Fang can go invisible?" Ella looked at Fang like he had just grown two heads. I couldn't help it, I grinned as Ella leaned forward. Fang flicked a glance at me, then an evil grin at Ella and he was there one moment, and gone the next.

"WHAT?" I yelped, jumping to my feet and kicking where he had been a moment before. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU COULD NOW DO IT INSTANTANEOUSLY?" Then I winced as I jolted my shoulder and slid back down the wall of the cave.

There was a low snicker from somewhere in the cave.

"And you can move now, too?" Nudge breathed, looking around.

"What do you mean?" Ella asked, her eyes wider than a bullfrog's.

"It took him a minute to blend in, and he had to stay still." I muttered contemptuously, then heard a slight crunch of gravel and pointed at where Fang should be. He appeared a second later, rolling his eyes. Typical.

"I didn't know you had an ability, too!" Ella exclaimed as Fang walked back to sit next to me like before.

"Uh huh," Nudge turned to her, "At first when we didn't know he had it Max kept freaking out every five minutes because Fang wasn't there, and then he'd act all ticked off and say 'I'm right _here, _Max' and then we realized he could blend into stuff!"

"I wouldn't _act_ all ticked off," He muttered, "I _was _ticked off. She woke me up."

I nearly jabbed him in the ribs, but then he handed me a s'mores. He knew me well.

I leaned my head against Fang's shoulder, yawning around the marshmallow and chocolate when he pointed out the cave. We looked, the was a flash, caused by a mirror and a lighter.

"C'mon, to the edge!" We all scrambled forward so we could perch on the little ledge, leaning against rocks, ready for the show. I leaned back on a rock, favoring my shoulder so I leaned with my good side propped on the rock. Then I felt warm breath on my neck and arms wrap around my waist.

"Here," Fang adjusted my weight so I could comfortably lean on him instead of the rock (a much nicer option) and he began to hum quietly in my ear.

"Isn't there a song, 'Lean On Me?' Or something?"

His chin bumped my neck as he nodded.

"No PDA's," Ella laughed suddenly, glancing at the spit of cliff Fang and I were on, "There are children present."

I gave her a look, refusing to blush and sort of failing. "Stuff it, Ella."

As soon as I said her name, a crack split through the air, Fang and I both jerked, then relaxed again as beautiful orange and blue lights reached sky high, whirling around like Nudge after drinking coffee.

Angel giggled.

"Their ears must be killing them," Said Fang before rubbing soothing circles between my wings. I relaxed them a bit, feathers brushing out through my shirt. Fang's were completely extended, laying across our legs in all their fourteen foot glory.

Psh. I worry myself, but some kid on Fang's blog asked if he would ask me to put a bit more description in the books, so there, random kid on Fang's blog, **FOURTEEN FOOT GLORY. **Description enough for you?

Despite not liking when Gazzy and Iggy blew up a bathroom in a mall that Nudge begged we stop at or when they built them under my nose, but I was glad I allowed the air show at Lake Mead and I wished we had brought a camera for mom. She would have liked it, liked how the colors expanded and seemed to block out the stars to fill the whole sky. I yawned again and felt Fang's arms tighten around my waist. My eyelids kept fluttering, tempting me to sleep, but I really didn't want to disappoint the boys and fall asleep. Unfortunately, with Fang's voice in my ear and warmth so close, I couldn't help but lose the fight against my eyes


	11. Flock, Scoot!

**Chapter Eleven-again, another chapter revised. See, when I was writing these (now on chapter 40 something), I was too eager to post before taking the time to review and edit, so I'm doing it now, adding a few things here and there. Anyway, enjoy!**

** Happy day! Not only is there a chapter eleven, but more reviewers! You guys are great!**

** Sydney, thank you again for the multiple reviews, I like long chapters, too. I'm not sure how far (if there is any) the Eggy will go, but that would be a great parody with Gaz and Iggy! BOMBS R US! **

** FreeSpirit329, there's gonna be some bigger Fax in the next chapter!**

** Rainie16, thanks, and yes, I love Nudge :D**

** Strawberry Shortcake123, no problem, glad you like it!**

** LovelyNBlue, thanks, I'll put up twelve after this one**

** Thank you, Maxine, there's going to be a more-action sequel as well, so I'm working on it!**

** Thanks again everyone, although 'thanks' is probably the most used word in the ivyflightislistening dictionary right now, so does anyone have any amusing synonyms for 'thanks?' Or any in cool languages? Post when you review!**

"SURPRISE VISIT OF THE BIRDKID TYPE!" Iggy hollered. I looked at him over mycereal with a _WTF_ expression. But of course, he couldn't see that so I had toask, just with slightly different language. Angel was munching on some toastacross the table.

"It's a newspaper headline," He rolled his sightless eyes at me. "I can sortafeel the black-on-white letters." He tossed the paper my way, I snatched it away from the orange juice.

"'_Surprise Visit of the Birdkid Type_." I read aloud. "_At 8:30 PM yesterday a_ Midwest Airline's _plane was surprised by the sudden visit of two of the avian-human hybrids previously used in the environmental group, Coalition to Stop the Madness (CSM), air shows to spread word about global warming and the threats facing our community. Many pictures were taken by bystanders in the plane as two of the hybrids appeared to be communicating with a passenger (name disclosed). Some seem to think that they were in fact, Max (the leader of the so-called 'Flock') and Angel, the youngest of the six._' So-called?" Ishrieked the last part.

"So-called? FAILURE. We ARE the Flock, not the so-called Flock! Who does she-"

"Max," Iggy took a deep breath. "Ears. Please. I thought only Fang's fan girls could reach voice pitches that high."

"Yeah, or they could all go jump off cliffs and no one would have to hear it." Fang entered the kitchen and made his way to the fridge. Not that I wasn't pleased by this remark, to say the least, but I am trying to get over my immature little bouts like that.

"Fang," I chastised, "Let's not be mean and cruel to little fan girls in skimpy skirts who haven't even met you but for some bizarre reason pledge their love to you over the internet. Don't ask them to go jump off cliffs."

He glared at me as everyone laughed, minus mom who was on her way home. "Okay. I could ask you to push them off."

The laughter reached a new level. I flipped him the bird when he smirked. Nudge was peering over my shoulder at the numerous pictures covering the whole front page. Apparently they couldn't narrow down fifty takes of a clip of my wing, a white feather in one window, our faces.

"Max, you totally should have moved to the side so they couldn't see that bloody bandage on your shoulder, nothing personal or anything but it totally puts off the picture. You and Angel even have nice little smiles and you weren't even posing! Granted, you knew they were there so I bet you had to fly around like that like we had to at the air show where you and Fang and Iggy had these fake little smiles. In this picture, though, you look totally ticked off, you're glaring at someone through the window, but why they put so many in I don't know, your shirt totally clashes and-" I was finally able to snake my hand through all the food and paper to clamp it over Nudge's mouth. I think I went deaf in that ear for about ten minutes afterward.

"Nudge, I hate to break it to you but Angel and I weren't really concentrating on the obnoxious people inside, and I couldn't help it that the wind made my hair fly into my face for half of these. As fabulous as I am, I cannot counter the law of physics."

"You did okay in the other half, though." Ella said. "You're so lucky you don't break out, pimples and stuff. Yearbooks can be great at school because of the poor pimply fellows who ran out of cover-up on picture day."

"'Poor pimply fellows?'" Mom called from the entry hall. "Do I even want to know?"

"Max and Angel are just lucky they aren't!" Ella hollered back. "They've got about forty pictures in the headlines."

Mom walked in and peered over the numerous shoulders that were peering over mine. I had eyes for only one though. Fang. He nodded once. We had to be on watch, if anyone was looking for us, this would point the way with neon arrows and welcome signs. What can I say? We're paranoid like that. Then he smiled and pointed to the last one, just my wing against a blue-and-white backdrop.

"I like that one."

"Just my wing?" I hadn't been expecting his input at all. He nodded then walked around the table to finish his second sandwich.

"They're even in color," Iggy ran his hand over the page. "Here, turn the page." He did it himself then asked us to read the headlines.

"_Fire Decimates A Kenya Village. 500 Dead_."

There was silence from most of us, and I even jumped a bit when there was a clatter from the other end of the table.

At first I thought Fang was having a seizure or something, his shoulders were heaving and he had dropped his empty water glass on his plate, hence the clatter. But then he started laughing out loud.

"What is so funny?" Mom demanded, throwing down the paper and walking over to him as if scolding a young boy. Fang didn't even look up at her and roll his eyes, just kept laughing.

"People are dead and you think this is FUNNY?" Mom threw the paper at him. I could see where I had gotten my yelling abilities.

Fang shook his head, unable to say anything, but he did look at me and gesture to the paper. Convinced he had finally lost his crackers, I got up and handed it to him. He grabbed the front page with Angel and I on one side and the Kenya incident opposite, and tried to flip it with a steady hand.

_Flock...Kenya_

_Flock...Kenya_

_Bird Kid Mutants...500 Dead_

I burst into laughter, slipping to my knees and cracking up right next to Mr. Hardcore until I felt like my shoulder was tearing off.

"We..." I managed to spit out. "Birdkids!" I couldn't speak anymore, dimly I heard Angel explain, now laughing herself.

"Fang noticed that Max and I take up the whole front page of the Phoenix news, and five hundred dead people are less important than us. They take up a fourth of a page on the inside cover!"

A high-pitched shriek escaped me as Fang and I collapsed again, laughing so loudly that Iggy had to slap us to shut us up, then crammed his hands over our mouths.

"Doorbell." He breathed. The effect was immediate. Fang and I stood, all serious.

"Flock," I breathed, "Scoot." And there were no longer six appearing to be normal kids at a kitchen table laughing over the newspaper and screwed up antics of the world.

"Ella, dishes." Ella gathered up all our food and plates, somehow in one big armful and dumped them in the sink where she covered them with a large mixing bowl. I ducked into a coat closet and hid behind something wooly. I heard the door creak open and a scratchy but warm voice laugh.

"_Va_-lencia!" It exploded, and I imagined mom being wrapped in a huge hug.

"And Ella! It's been so long, I've been in Europe, as you know, my cat hasn't been feeling her best, ah, Schnookoms! You remember the Martinez's!" There was a purring of a cat. I forced myself not to giggle.

"Ahh, Schnook," Ella was forcing herself to be enthusiastic. "How was Europe?"

The cat meowed.

"Oh, Schnookie loved Europe!" Steps signified the woman had brushed in, tugging mom and Ella along behind her, a chair scraped back. There was a coat and a door between myself and a stranger, and let me tell you, I was not happy about it, not matter how harmless this neighbor seemed.

"Tea-"

"Of course, Ella, dearest! The usual, you make the best tea, I always said so. With the exception of Belgium. Speaking of which, Europe. Come, Schnookie, have some tea. I found the best vet in all of Europe, it was nothing personal, Valencia, but you know how Schnookie Pie doesn't like to be far from me. It was a state of the art clinic, Valencia, though I couldn't understand half the babble that flowed everywhere. The French, such wonderful people! So enthusiastic and willing to help, unfortunately, I couldn't understand, as I just said, but they sounded it! I learned a bit of the language though, brushed up a bit on my "Merci" and such, but in the meantime I got a translator. Oh, thank you dearest Ella! Lemon tea, you always remember, don't you? England also has just the most marvelous tea, and they even let Schnookie in! This was during her health break, of course. When we first got there..."

Oh God. Poor, poor, mom and Ella. They couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"So he said everything was fine, I told him he was bonkers of course, but he gave us directions to rent a beautiful house in the country, and Schnookums and I got plenty of fresh air, away from all that city stuff. And then of course Schnookie sneezed, so I hired a chauffeur to drive us the ten minutes because cabs and busses are just so dirty and full of germs and who knows where those drivers have been? Didn't you have a case onetime, Valencia involving a cab driver?"

"Well, it was more of a minivan than a cab-"

"Oh, what do you smell Schnookie? Over there in the corner?"

_Shit._

_Damn._

_Crap_. Angel can read minds, just forget I said those last two and thought another very bad one that Angel doesn't need to know. It's the corner of space between the wall and the stove, whenever there had been previous doorbell ringers (girl scout cookies, anyone? The Flock and I had nearly tackled her), that was where Fang usually hid. Invisible, obviously.

The chair scraped back. "Schnookie, don't get caught up with any spiders or anything. They could hurt you, Schnook! Come here!"

What would happen if she ran into Fang? The kitchen was too small, he wouldn't be able to move without someone noticing...

"Mrs. Hetter, you may not want to go near that corner," Ella began, making the sound of running forward to grab the cat.

"Don't pick up that cat, dearest. You might scratch her!"

"Okay, Mrs. Hetter!" I heard the thunk of something, a cat screech, and a woman scream like she had just witnessed an ax murder. Or the victim of the ax murder.

"ELLA!" That was mom. Ella was snickering.

"SCHNOOKIE! DAMN IT ALL, GIRL! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

More cursing, stumbling, yowling, and a slammed door later, I pushed the door open and stepped out.

"You kicked Schnookie?" I guessed, looking around the kitchen. Mom was sitting, quite relieved in a chair, Ella was laughing hysterically, and Fang was slowly coming into view. I could hear Flock members creeping out of their spaces.

"Thanks," Fang breathed, trying to unflatten himself from the wall. He was as far back into the corner as you could go.

"Who was that?" Iggy asked, coming down the stairs. "I heard it all, but, what the heck?"

"Next door neighbor, she was here when I moved." Mom sighed heavily. "Her cat is her life, explaining why she moved to Europe for six years because it sneezed."

"Her cat hates her." Angel announced, coming out of one of the cupboards.

"And who wouldn't, with a name like Schnook?"

"To true, Gaz." Iggy moaned. "I'd rather commit suicide. Be named a number. Uhh..."

"Give all your bombs to me?"

"NO!" They both turned to look at me with such a frightened look on their faces, you would have thought that I admitted I ate live puppies for breakfast, tails first.

"She didn't work for the School, though. And she seemed nice, I don't know why her cat hated her unless it was because of the way she dressed, which would be really shallow but true. I saw her when she came through the door. Capris are really a bad look for almost anyone, and I don't even want to know how she could wear them in this heat mmpphhh."

"Thank you, Iggy." I breathed in and out with my eyes closed, and counted to ten.

"Doorbell, it's Jeb."

"Flock, Scoot!" I demanded, jumping towards the closet again until mom grabbed my elbow and turned me around. The Flock was judging if I was serious or not.

I could now hear him in the hall, tentatively taking steps forward.

"C'mon in, Jeb!" Mom called, now doing dishes.

"In to hell." I muttered, and received a light smack on the arm.

"Living room," I muttered, to extreme joy of everyone. Not. So we trooped in, ignored Jeb, allowed him to put video numero three into the player, accepted mom's bowl of popcorn, took our usual places, and after that list of things, began to watch the movie that was much less enjoyable than Disney.

"I'm going to warn you guys," Jeb spoke specifically to Fang and I, we ignored him. "This isn't one of the better videos. I'm in it-"

"That would explain why it's not a better one."

"Max!"

"Yes, mom."

"Continue, Jeb."

He looked uncomfortable. "It's just a side note, I'm done."

"Then press play! And turn it down, last time the speakers were destroying my ears."

Have I ever told anyone how glad I was that Ella shared my view of the Jebster?

The screen lit up, and the video began to play.

It began simply enough, Fang and I sitting back to back. Not talking, just sitting. That is, until we sprang up as the doors spread open. It wasn't much to see, the usual commencement of Fang and I making a ruckus and the whitecoats yelling and the Erasers kicking at us until we were wheeled out of the room. The screen crackled for a moment, then a lab appeared. We couldn't help it. Fang and I jerked so badly that the little footstool thing got pushed toward the TV and into the wall. Our breathing was rough, and somehow we had backed into the corner of the room at the same time that our younger selves were wheeled into the center of the lab on screen.

Then the needles appeared in the hands of some whitecoats, filled with gooey liquids in different colors. An Eraser pulled a screaming Fang out of the cage and strapped him to one of those body boards you only see in sci-fi alien abduction movies that no one actually thinks are real, then when Fang was secure, did the same to me. I was proud of my four year old self for making a bite mark on it's hairy arm. I dimly realized Fang and I were holding each other's hands, and both of us were an ashen white. Like, Snow White white.

Small needles were stuck into our necks, legs, and arms and beeping started, our hearts, blood pressure, random things only they could think of.

There was a large needle, like an inch in diameter filled with silvery fluid, and a whitecoat jammed the needle point right into my forehead and pressed the little dispenser thing. The four year old me screamed, writhed in agony, twisted and turned as I tried to escape the pain.

"Mercury intake," One whitecoat muttered aloud while scribbling. I grabbed my knees, unable to look away from the screen and breathing heavily, and my younger self was still screaming when Fang's back arched and a noise suited for the fiery pits of any hell there may or may not be escaped him when a needle just the same size was plunged into his neck with blue contents. Whitecoats yelled, Fang and I tried to get away from the liquid agony spreading through our veins, Erasers raked their claws across our faces which only made us yell louder. Jeb turned it down. Fang managed to uncurl his wings between the metal and his back and he was feebly struggling against the bonds whereas I had collapsed and was retching.

The whitecoats scribbled away furiously.

One of them took two more needles, smaller, but with more substance in them, and jabbed one into each of our wrists, then consulted the rising beep on the heart monitor.

"This one, 10442, has a high potency level for arsenic! Come look at how her heart rate has barely accelerated!"

A crowd of whitecoats gathered around me, all with their little clipboards, leaving Fang and the Eraser.

"Riley, another injection?" He held his hand out, an identical needle was placed in it. Another injection. Another scream. In the background, the Eraser was toying with Fang, grabbing an arm then tugging it sharply before running around the table to smack his head.

"Jeb," Mom suddenly had the remote in her hands, the screen froze and she was looking in the corner at Fang and I. She stood, but with the sudden movement I flinched and moved farther back.

"Max, go outside." Iggy demanded. I flinched at his voice. "Fang, move. Go fly."

I tried to slow my breathing, trying to get back to normal. I was a leader, I couldn't be freaking out like this, I had a Flock to lead,

_Go Max, it's okay, you take good care of us, go._ Angel got up and walked over to us on light footsteps, then slowly pushed us out the living room doors, and suddenly I was running down the hall and out the doors and my wings were spreading and I was in the air.

No more antiseptic.

No more Erasers.

No more needles.

Arsenic.

Mercury.

Just the wind in my face, the steady beat of my wings, and the heavy breathing of Fang to my right. All I could do was fly, fly away, not anywhere near the School.

**Remember, synonyms for 'thank you' or in another language when you review! Hoped you liked it!**


	12. Soup's Up! Err, Down

**Chapter Twelve**

Long after my stomach was empty and the sun had begun to sink, Fang swooped in front of me and bobbed his head toward the ground. There was a little green patch, apparently on a ridge above the desert. I nodded, and we turned downward.

I landed roughly, I'll admit it, and stumbled a bit on the woody ground, so ever so gracefully, I turned and sat right down. Fang collapsed right next to me. We were silent for a while, with no real need to say anything, for a while anyway. I dropped my chin onto my folded arms and sighed heavily, closing my eyes.

"It's pathetic." I mumbled. "How we're so effected by something that happened ages ago."

He nodded. Then a little while later, after I had nearly decided to go to sleep,

"I still can't believe it." He muttered.

"How so?" I looked at him. He was lying back in the dirt, hands over his eyes. There was a ray of sun right across them. Shrugging, Fang continued.

"A, that some teenager gave me up for that."

"B?"

"That you ended up in the same place."

I decided against shrugging, my shoulder was acting up, but I was glad he was playing along. "And C?"

"That it's...we're okay."

I turned around and grinned at him, his eyes were open, but shielded from the sun.

"We've done pretty okay, haven't we?"

He rolled eyes in a 'that's what I just said' manner.

"Well," I pulled him into a sitting position. "We rescued Angel from the School almost single handedly. We then destroyed one of the two major branches of Itex, according to Jeb, completely singlehandedly; we survived Disney World, too many flyboy and Eraser attacks to count, not to mention the School," I tried to hold back a shudder. Fang saw right through it and placed a hand on my shoulder. "And yet, we aren't bitter, crazy nutcases like the guy in New York."

"The MIT kid."

I nodded and we lapsed into silence again. The School. Not only could they torture you physically, but mentally, too. Even then all I could smell was antiseptic, and I could remember the sharp jab of needles in my skin and the fire that burned because of them. I jumped when Fang touched my elbow lightly, his dark eyes full of concern.

"I remember it, Fang." I allowed him to wrap his arms around me. "How...scared I was. The needles..."

Fang nodded an agreement, but held me tighter. I let him. Sometimes you just need to forget that stupid thing called pride. I shivered, despite the warmth of the day.

"You don't need to be afraid anymore, Max." Fang whispered into my ear, shifting me slightly so my head was facing his face.

"But…"

He didn't need to silence me with a no, instead, he cupped my chin in his callused hand, and I felt his chapped lips on mine. I closed my eyes, leaning into him so our lips could move in synchronization. We rolled sideways in the dirt, and it was just so perfect.

M-Geeks could have sprung up on us any moment, there could have been dozens of rattlesnakes in the bushes, but in that moment I felt _whole. _I knew he'd always be there for me, whether I had to save the world or not, and if I was stuck battling a hundred armed robots at the top of an erupting volcano, I wouldn't be fighting them alone.

Okay, so crazy relation, but it was true.

"Fang?" I whispered, my breathing ragged as he ran his nose across my jawline.

"Mmh?"

"Love you."

**Iggy Point of View**

I tried to loosen my stride, relax my shoulders. Maybe you normal kids reading this don't get it, but to put it in one word, the School was traumatizing. Trust me, I lost my sight because of those bast-oh, I mean, meanies. I always forget that Angel can mind read, and if you think that's weird, how about when people forget I'm blind? Wish I could.

"Iggy? Would you mind making dinner tonight? I have a late shift at the office and Max and Fang will want something when they get back." Dr. M called from somewhere upstairs, her voice tense from worry. The pair had been gone for hours, and none of us blamed them, which was even worse.

"Sure," I most have sounded unenthusiastic because then she told Ella to come and help me. Ella's nice I guess. She seems pretty real, even though she likes talking about clothes a ton with Nudge, not like beach bunnies. Yes, beach bunnies are cute and have got something going on, but I generally didn't have any contact with them, and they seem to have absolutely no brain.

See? I'm not a complete sexist pig, no matter what Max says. It really did impress me when Ella said she wanted to help Max, though. I guess I realized that it must be hard for her and Dr. M to watch Max handle saving the world. And when we were talking when I flew over to Lake Mead with her...

"Hey, Iggy." Ella ran down the stairs, around the corner and almost right into me. I caught her, than carefully pushed her away to make sure she could stand.

"Hey, Ella."

"What's for dinner? I hope you don't mind that I'm helping, mom..."

I shook my head and lead the way to the kitchen. "No idea, it's fine. The company would be nice. Where's Nudge, Gaz, and Angel?"

"Outside, I think."

I knew what we had, ingredients wise, and decided soup was always a good choice. Not Campbells Sodium and Chicken Bi-Product brand, either. However, I didn't talk to Ella much, so now that the small talk was over, a mostly awkward silence took over. Some silence is quiet. Awkward is not. I began to get some celery, tomatoes, potatoes, and other vegetables out.

"What're you making?" Oh. Right.

"Soup, want to find some chicken broth?"

"No problemo." I heard some rifling, so I began to fill a bowl with water for the potatoes.

"Is that real Spanish? Problemo?"

She laughed, it sounded a lot like Max's. Granted, Max doesn't always get a chance to laugh.

"I don't think so, mom's never used it."

"You don't know Spanish?" That surprised me, they were both very Mexican, Ella had sort of almond-ish skin, tanned. I couldn't remember Max looking very Mexican, or Jeb. Tan skin, but only from sun exposure, brown eyes, sort of 'caramel' hair, as Angel put it.

"A bit, from mom, but at school I take French because I've always wanted to go there. Nudge told me about the time that she, Max, Angel and Total went to France and how great it was..."

I dropped the sliced potatoes in the water and the tomatoes and something spicy in the chicken broth.

"You get language choices at school? Can you get a chicken breast out of the fridge?"

I heard the fridge open, and in the meantime she explained. "In sixth grade is when you first get to take a language, you can choose from German, Spanish, French, Latin, and they added Chinese this year because of it's rising popularity. German would be cool, too, of course, so I might switch next year because I've got a good grip on French."

So cool. "I've always wanted to learn another language, but some things take priority over learning. We haven't really had time." I barely knew the English alphabet.

"Well, 'papillon' is butterfly." She laughed again. "Impress some girls with that."

"Papillon, then." I chuckled. "Do you know how to cut the chicken into little strips?"

There was silence, then she said, "I'm shaking my head, Ig."

I walked towards where her voice was coming from, avoiding a chair. "Wanna learn?"

"Sure!" Was it just me or did her voice sound sort of squeaky, like she really wanted to?

"Okay," I took her wrists in my hands and placed a knife in one, then while instructing her in one ear, I guided her hands to cut the chicken properly.

"How'd you learn how to do this?" She asked, sounding slightly frustrated at her shaking hands. "I've never been able to cut anything but butter. In woodshop at school, where you make stuff out of wood, the teacher always had to help me with the saw."

"Angel helped at first, sent me images in my head, so gradually I learned to do it without her help, but I generally don't like it when she sends me pictures."

Ella was silent for a moment, I guiding her hands that were cutting the chicken until she asked "Why?"

I sighed and closed my eyes. I don't know why I told Ella, I generally wouldn't have told anyone, it just sort of came out.

"I used to see, Ella, really well, and I miss it."

Again she surprised me, but it was a good surprise. Instead of freaking with 'Oh my God, Iggy! I'm so sorry!' she turned and gave me a small hug, and even with our chicken-y fingers it was nice. And it wasn't even a big hug or anything, she turned away quickly and began cutting again.

"So," I snickered, "Woodshop must have been interesting."

She turned and I pictured her in a very Max-like position with her hands on her hips.

"Oh shut up." Then she whacked me in the head with a hand covered in who knows what. I jumped back, and lightly touched my hair.

"Chicken and tomato?" I made a face.

"Oh you deserved it."

"Really?" I stuck my hand in an open corn jar and dropped some in her hair, then quickly backed away as she took a swipe at me, infuriated.

"Corn? IN MY HAIR?" I heard her reach for something, but couldn't duck in time before I felt something splash on my shirt. A quick sniff determined leftover chicken broth. I reached into the fridge on my right, grabbed a yogurt, popped the top and threw it at her. She squeaked and retaliated, but then we jumped as something beeped loudly.

"Fire alarm, way to go!" I yelled at her, turning off the stove top.

"Oh like you didn't contribute!"

Flour in my face.

Egg on her shoulder.

Celery bouncing off my arm.

Water on her shirt.

Tomatoes on mine.

Her slipping on the wet tile, cracking up. Me falling when she reached her hand out and pulled my legs out from underneath me.

Us bending over in laughter.

Me smacking her back as she began to choke.

Us laughing all over again as she hiccupped.

A window opening and two pairs of breathing.

I looked in Ella's general direction. Simultaneously, we swore. "Crap."

We got to our feet as fast as we could, but then I slipped on a tomato piece and we began our hysterics all over again.

"That better not be in your wings," Max. In her leaderly tone.

I shook my head, unable to speak even as Ella said, "Wishfully. He got corn in my hair!" Silence.

"Seriously?" Max laughed.

"Well do you think I put it there?"

I heard Fang snicker quietly.

"Guys, why's the fire alarm going off?" Gazzy was suddenly there, I was surprised I hadn't heard him. Then, apparently disappointed, as any proper bomb maker would be he said, "Dam-I mean, dang. No explosives? You're losing your touch, Ig."

I threw an already broken egg at him.

"HEY!" He yelled, but I didn't feel anything. Fang apparently did, though.

There was no noise, that's how I knew it was him, but suddenly there was another splat in Gazzy's general area. And we were fighting all over again. Over the din I heard Max shouting,

"Guys! Quit it!" And only when she grabbed the spray hose from the sink and coated Ella, Gazzy and I, did we actually stop.

"Look at the kitchen! What-"

"Max," Fang sounded exasperated. "No scolding while laughing."

"Well how on earth did this happen?" She turned to him, shrieking.

I assumed that he would shrug and point to on of us in an 'ask them' sort of way.

"Iggy?"

Dang.

"Well, Dr. M, that is, yours and Ella's mom, asked me to cook dinner because she's at her vet place, and then she told Ella to help me but we got into a fight and..."

"Now the soup's on the floor."

Gazzy clapped and whistled. "Encore! Really, you all give the brother's Grim a run for their money!" I could picture Max rolling her eyes.

"Fabulous. Clean it up, and Iggy, if you did get any in your wings, I am so not helping you."

"Will you help me get it out of my hair?" Ella pleaded, following Max and Fang's footsteps that splashed toward the hall.

"When you're done. Mops are in the closet."


	13. This is TickTackToe!

**Before we move on to chapter thirteen, max point of view, some thanks are needed. By the way, when you review, please give me a thank you in a different language, just for fun.**

**Rainie16, yes, an Eggy moment! Food fights are just so wonderful…**

**Malabsorbent, I loved your review and am glad to know that you haven't read anything else like this! **

**FreeSpirit329, working on the fax…**

**LovelyNBlue, thanks, and crazy cat ladies should be added everywhere!**

Turns out because of a certain two irritating flys in my ointment, we were heading out to dinner. Yes, public places, with people. And tiny spaces. All because of, cough, cough, Iggy and Ella, cough, cough. The kitchen was still drying, though clean, and mom chose not to ask about that. She was wiped, we were starving, it wasn't far of a walk to town, we could fight if we met a gang or something, and I had the limitless Max Ride credit card.

"Ooh, Ella, is that place any good? Burrtuchii's? It looks Italian. I've never had Italian food, except when we went to Italy but we didn't go to any restaurants, we just had those yummy ice creams things and so I think we should totally check that one out plus it has big windows which Max and Fang need so they don't die in the booth-"

"Yes, thank you, Nudge." Iggy clamped his hand over Nudge's mouth.

"Bertucci's." Ella giggled to Nudge. "And it's fine with me, they've some pretty good food. Then we can order a pizza to go so you guys can have some of that, too, but people don't think we're crazy."

I looked at Fang, who bobbed his head once. It seemed an okay plan, for plans that dealt with people and restaurants.

"Okay," I muttered, "But Gaz, you know what I'm going to say. Angel, no manipulating into free dessert, no bombs,"

"Max, we've been to restaurants before." Iggy rolled his sightless eyes.

"And look how well New York turned out!"

My sister grabbed my free hand (Fang held the other loosely), and began to tow me toward the entrance.

"Blending isn't hard, Max." She sighed, "You're fine. No one will guess that you're part bird."

----------

"A table for seven?" Ella asked politely, she's much better at dealing with people than I. All the same, it was, yet again, a twenty year old bombshell of a girl who couldn't keep her eyes off of Iggy and Fang.

She nodded, jabbering less but somehow more irritatingly than Nudge, and led us to a table in back. I quickly looked around; we were near the fire exit, an escape route.

"I'm Hannah and I'll be your waitress this evening, there are, like, quite a few specials, if you like, like that kinda stuff, but, like, generally old people like ask for that stuff, so here are your menus. If you need anything, you can call." She winked, and sashaying her skimpy skirted-butt, she walked away. Ella squeezed against the wall next to Iggy who sat next to Gazzy, Nudge, Fang and I sat on the other side, and Angel pulled up a chair at the head of the table. We could still hear the waitress talking loudly in the background, and I didn't realize my hands were in fists until Fang held them under the table and began to rub his thumbs in soothing circles on my palms.

"Really," Iggy sighed, "I know I'm just that attractive, but why can't they be lesbians?"

I snickered, Fang nearly smiled, the rest of the Flock and Ella started laughing, but even through all of that we figured out what we wanted pretty darn quick. Being a hungry mutant bird kid and a sister does that to you.

"Pasta buffet." Fang, the last to order, said in that monotone voice that is such a pain to the strangers he uses it on.

"That's, like, what you want?" Hannah asked, bending over slightly so her butt was right in Angel's face. Angel looked disgusted.

Fang nodded, giving her a look.

"I can give you something else, too." Her coy little voice, the irresistible chance to bother Fang, I leaned over my appetizer plate to look at her.

"Like, OMG Hannah, where did you get that shirt?"

She raised her eyebrows and looked at me like I was clinically insane.

"Abercrombie." Oh. Right. It said 'Abercrombie' across her chest. Real smooth, that's me.

"Well, yeah, totally great story, you know? So I was just, like, thinking of this 'cause of your shirt and you're so obviously flirting with my gay friend right here, 'cause I was like doing the same thing in Abercrombie last Friday. And, yeah, I know the gay guys are cute, but it's so awkward, so I was gonna, like, save you the embarrassment. Because I was totally checking him out at the register, and it was really crowded, and then he, like, yeah."

Ooh, Fang was soooo gonna kill me. Already, the Flock and Ella was doing their best to hold back their laughter. Of course, I had said this really loud in that kind of obnoxious pitch that carries to everyone in a restaurant, so Hannah here was stuck between a rock and an awkward place.

"I'll get your food." She muttered with a face as red as the tomato that Iggy had in his hair earlier and hurried away.

I glanced at Fang, grinning.

"So, like, yeah." Then I giggled shrilly. Ella, Iggy, and everyone at our table but Fang couldn't help it anymore, they started cracking up. The people at the booth next to us looked over and rolled their eyes. I heard words sounding distinctly like 'no adult supervision.'

"You're dead."

"It wouldn't seem that way." I replied brightly, taking a sip of water. Then I rolled my eyes. "Or I could have punched her and caused a public disturbance. If Angel didn't spank her first. Which would you rather have?"

"_I_ could punch her."

I held up my hands in a mock surrender. "Well, go ahead!"

He rolled his eyes and gnawed on a bread stick. I thought he was going to sulk, but see, Fang just isn't like that. He'll get you back when you're least expecting it.

"Way to ask where her shirt was from. That was bright."

"Sarah Palin could see it from her house." Iggy pointed out. "I could see it."

"Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house," Ella announced. "She can see anywhere." **(AN, I generally don't do these, but I thought I should say I actually have nothing against gay/lesbians or Sarah Palin, I just thought it would be amusing here.)**

"Yes, well." I brushed it away and looked out the window.

"Max, will you play tick-tack-toe with me?" Angel held out a crayon for me and pushed her paper placemat toward me. I had no qualms against playing tick-tack-toe, but even if I did, my resistance would have crumbled immediately with her innocent little eyes. Sometimes I forget that Angel's actually seven and if she hadn't been sold to the School, may have been having a birthday party with cakes and Bratz dolls and may never learn how to properly break someone's neck…

I looked down at the little box-thing that Angel had drawn, the watched her place an X in one corner. I hesitated.

"Max," Ella leaned toward us, "You do know how to play tick-tack-toe, right?"

I shot her a look. "Of course I do, I'm just…" I sighed. "Fine. Teach me how to play tick-tack-toe."

The Flock knew better to taunt me about admitting that in fact, I, Maximum Ride, did not know how to do something. Heck, they probably didn't either. I had no idea how Angel knew it.

"Total taught me."

Typical. I dog knew how to take better care of a seven year old then I did.

Ella instructed me on the rules of tick-tack-toe, and I felt a bit stupid afterward. Really, it was so simple. I drew an O in the opposite corner of Angel's X. She put another cross below the center square, I blocked her, but why would I want to? Why not let her put an X there?

"Stop messing with my mind, little terror." I hissed, quickly drawing down the O before she could do anything else. Then I quickly put up my mind blocks.

"Dang," She sounded like Iggy when she did that.

"Oh suck it up. This is tick-tack-toe, my friend."

"Oh yeah," Angel put another X down, blocking my path but closing the board, so she drew another. "Because tick-tack-toe is so competitive."

I grinned. "It must be if you try to make me give in, tell me, are we betting money?"

"Wishfully."

Seeing how mature Angel is, plus her mind reading/controlling abilities, don't blame me if I sometimes forget that she's seven. But then she'll look at me with her adorable little blue eyes and beg for an ice cream cone, and I'll remember. So we, while being cheered on by Ella, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and occasionally Fang, had an ever so intense tick-tack-toe competition.

Ten minutes later, I sighed and leaned back.

"Glad you're not playing for money?" Gazzy joked.

"Yes, lost 3-17 to a seven year old, that's tarnishing your record, Maximum."

"Shut up, Ig."

"Baked Macaroni?" A different waitress had arrived, much to my amusement. She was a blonde with brown eyes, slightly short and looking overwhelmed with all the food. Angel raised her hand. Nudge and Ella also had the macaroni, so they were handed theirs,

"Tuscan Pizza?"

"Me!" I sat straight up and looked at the platter she handed to me, clearing away the mess me and Angel had made with our game.

"And then you two have the plates for the pasta buffet," She handed large bowls to Iggy and Fang. "And lasagne for you."

Gazzy looked about to drool. C'mon, guys, we're losing our touch. Drooling after just a day with scant food? Remember the good old days when we were on the run?

The waitress backed away, I couldn't help but notice her eyes flickering nervously. She was looking at Fang. I narrowed my eyes. Then she seemed to notice me, and her eyes widened even more. I nodded my head once, signifying her to explain and fast. Luckily, she was a very bright waitress.

"Umm, I don't mean to be rude, and you're all probably going to freak out, but are you Fang and Max?"

Fang and I refused to look at each other. Iggy even quirked his eyebrow.

"Like, Fang's blog, Fang?" Ella asked. Our new waitress nodded. "I love that website! Flying birdkids are _so _cool! And it's really not that common a name." Did I mention my sister was, too? I didn't know she could lie that well.

"Well, except for bulldogs." Nudge licked her spoon.

"Or mastiffs." Gaz looked at our waitress. "You know, like in the Harry Potter movies?"

Angel turned in her seat to look at-I searched for the name card-Sierra.

"Don't mind them." She chirped. "Yeah, that's Fang and Max, Maximum Ride. You read her books. Good, aren't they?"

Sierra took a step back, but her eyes seemed to sparkle.

"I'm sorry," She said again. "For intruding and everything, I just thought you guys seemed very similar to the blog and books. I'm, kind of a fan." She laughed nervously and looked at me. "It's kind of sad, actually, I've re-read your books a million times."

"Thanks?" I said, but it sounded more like a question.

"Max can write _well_?" Iggy gasped, putting a hand to his mouth. I kicked him under the table. Sierra grinned, seeming to relax more.

"Yeah, it's hilarious and from a great perspective, so it sort of seems like whoever reads it was in the forest or Texas football stadium. By the way, I can't cook either and I've never been to Disney world."

I smiled back at her. "But you work at a restaurant?"

"I'm saving for college," Sierra seemed a bit self-conscious, "It's a job, I hope to get a creative writing major, but it's going to be hard because I can't stand school as it is."

"Here, here." Fang muttered, still looking wary of Sierra.

"Do you read Fang's blog?" Nudge asked, no longer able to contain herself. "He spends a lot of time on there, like spreading news about global warming and stuff. I think it's pretty cool, the only reason I can do anything with computers is because I just have this thing, but before I couldn't do anything with electronics."

Sierra nodded and glanced at Fang. They stared at each other for a sec, then she snickered, "They repaired the Hollywood sign."

Surprisingly, he laughed and looked at Gazzy and Iggy.

"Ahh, I remember that." The Gasman reminisced. "Who could forget the frying of wires and explosives?" Then he and Ig high fived.

"That's Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy." I pointed them all out. "As you probably figured out, and this is my…friend, Bella." I didn't want to put her in trouble if it really turned out that we couldn't trust Sierra. I trusted Angel, but everyone makes mistakes.

"Max?" Sierra asked me.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?" She waited, then interrupted me and laughed. "Wow, that was stupid. What I mean is, why do you say that James Patterson wrote your books?"

"Easy," I replied. "Secrecy, hopefully none of enemies will notice them as easily and all the stuff I say about them. I know someone," mom, "who knows his cousin, and so he agreed to pretend they were his."

Sierra nodded, and then turned as someone barked her name from the kitchens. She turned back to us with a slightly panicked expression, muttered a quick goodbye, and nearly sprinted back toward the person.

Fang and I shared a look.

"Who's that?" I asked Angel quietly, avoiding the stares of neighboring tables.

"Oh," she bit into some macaroni. "Just some guy, he kissed her, but I don't know why she isn't happy about it. He says that he's her boyfriend and wants to know why she's avoiding him."

I nodded (I seemed to be doing a lot of that) and slid out of the booth, not even speaking before heading off to the direction where Sierra had left. When will guys realize that girls are not actually possessions?

It annoys me to no end. Dimly, I heard Fang mutter 'rabbit', remembering the time before the E house had blown up when I had helped a hurt rabbit and Iggy was convinced it would give him rabies… Good times, good times. I weaved between the tables, then after listening carefully, stepped outside of an 'employees only' doorway. What can I say? I never learned much in the rules department. It led out to a few dumpsters in a little alley between two other buildings, signs pointing out a home-run clothing store and Kay's jewelers.

Typical controlling boyfriend scene, let me be thy director:

First, held against a wall, there must be a pretty girl of average height and chest size. She must have a slightly panicked, but also quite determined look upon her face. Her hands should be pinned up by the controlling boyfriend, who is bald with a weird tattoo, which must have hurt like heck to be inked on. The controlling boyfriend (CB) must be wearing a sweat-stained tank that should be white, but it more calico after his using it. CB will be strong, but he is arrogant and therefore thinks he is stronger than the average birdkid coming over to size him up. Then, the girl should look slightly relieved and smile in a sort of 'this is embarrassing, I don't know why I ever dated him but thanks for helping me out' way. The guy should turn to look at said birdkid with an 'F off' expression. Then he should try to get his point across vocally. The point will be ignored by yours featherly.

"Actually," I leaned up against the wall on one shoulder a few feet away from the pair. "I don't think I will, at least not until you let her go." I bobbed my head toward Sierra.

"None of your business." He growled, clearly a smoker, because he definitely didn't have to the looks to be an Omega or Eraser.

"I beg to differ." I yawned casually, and walked to the other side. "You see, when you mess with someone who compliments my books, you mess with me."

Or someone who is nice and doesn't turn us in to the whitecoats, but the book excuse was more explanatory. The CB laughed cruelly and winked at me. I saw him twitch toward me; I wrinkled my lip in disgust.

"Fine, stay where you are," He pointed to the ground. "I like having two chicks to screw with."

Gross. I kicked my foot up in a signature round house kick, and spun him away from Sierra and held him to the ground. I could feel him struggling, but I'm a mutant, remember? Unarmed humans are no match for me. I spat in his face and watched the saliva dribble down his face and dug my foot deeper into his ribs.

"Leave her alone," I hissed, "Or I _will _hear about it, and one particular lowlife will not be so well off." I felt the satisfying bend of his ribs, as I made sure he knew what lowlife I was talking about. Then, I kicked him so he rolled away, and I walked backwards to the door, towing Sierra with me. When we were back outside of the bathrooms, she sighed in relief.

"You didn't have to…"

"No, I did. Guys just need to back off." I grinned. "File a report against him, you could probably get assault for that bruise."

Sierra brushed some curls back behind an ear. "In that case, then, thanks. I will, and if you don't mind me saying," she leaned in, flicking a glance at the table where Fang and the others were watching us. "I'm glad you're finally with Fang, poor guy was gonna break if you didn't kiss him."

I couldn't help it. I snickered, waved, and hurried back to our table to dig into my pizza. Iggy and Fang left for their pasta as soon as I returned, but were back just as quickly.

"What was that all about, Max?" Ella glanced at Sierra, now taking orders a few tables away with an enormous smile.

"Max has 'rabbit syndrome.'" Fang said around a mouth of spaghetti.

"'Rabbit syndrome?'"

"She has to help everyone." Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Not everyone," I protested. "I mean, I probably should have found straightjacket's for most of the people in the subway tunnels in New York."

"Not the MIT kid?" Nudge asked. "Because he was a bit loony, I think, especially how he kept asking if we had any technology even though we told him about a jillion times we didn't."

"He was decent," I conceded, chewing some basil. "He didn't want to be controlled, just like us."

"First it was the rabbit with the broken leg, hence the name," Iggy ticked it off on his fingers. "Then you, and now this."

"The time you came out of nowhere and beat up Jose and Dwayne?" Ella laughed. "Their expressions were priceless. All week they were bugging me about who you were, I didn't tell them, of course, but you'd think they saw a ghost or something."

"Or a mutant, but whatever," I muttered, starting on my fourth slice. Ella kicked my foot.

"You're not a mutant, none of you guys are." She said it quietly, while sipping a water to disguise her uncomfortable-ness.

"Ella," I sighed, putting down a slice. "Thanks, but technically, we are mutants."

"Only if you believe what the whitecoats say." She hesitated, flicking a glance at Angel, who was grinning ear to ear, to Gazzy, examining his hands, then outside and watching cars. "There are crossbreed dogs, but they're called 'designer' never mutant. Everyone loves them, and they're bred for special things, like being hype-allergenic, looks, or excelling at something. Sometimes they take two good smeller-dogs, like beagles and jack russels, and you have yourself a very good rabbit catcher."

Her face was tomato red, and I was incredibly touched by what she said, but I didn't want her to ignore us and look out the window.

"How do you know so much about dogs?"

She looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Hmm, I don't know, maybe because our mom is a vet?"

"_I _don't know that much about hypo-whatsit dogs."

Ella rolled her eyes, but Angel laughed. "Max, I don't know that much about hypo-whatsit dogs, either. Ella's lived with your mom longer."

"Why should you know that much about it? Nothing personal, Ang, but last I checked Celeste didn't come with a dog handbook…" Ella was lightening up while I signed the check-book-thingie that said we could leave. Hannah dropped it off very inconspicuously.

"Total." We all answered in unison.

"Well," Angel mused, slurping her chocolate milk, "I actually don't know if he likes other dogs much, seeing how he chased Magnolia away to live at the neighbor's for a while, but he likes wine samples. He keeps trying to get me to go to a tasting with him, but Dr. M says I wouldn't be allowed for some reason."

Remind me to thank my mom.

"You know," Iggy said, holding the door open for the rest of us, "I don't know why Total thinks that he would be allowed either, it's not like wine is the healthiest of drinks for dogs." We began heading down the sidewalk towards a parking lot which allowed us to head for the woods and a little trail that Ella used for short trips for small grocery runs.

I'll admit, it was a bit eerie standing in the dark parking lot and the woods. I kept looking around, up, right, left, behind, what can I say? Being on the run most of your life does that to a girl. Angel yawned loudly and grabbed onto Fang's hand as she stumbled.

_Can you read me a story when we get home, Max? _

Angel's just so darned cute. I told her I would, and she sent me a picture of her hugging me. Fang scooped her up as her feet began to drag, and Iggy led the way to the forest. Why the blind guy, may you ask? Because the blind guy doesn't need eyes to see. Next went Ella along the narrow trail, then Nudge, Gazzy, Fang, and I took up the back. It probably wasn't even that late, and I had definitely been more tired, but my bed was sounding very wonderful at that moment. And Fang would be on his mattress, ready to comfort me if the School haunted me, and I'd be there if it happened to him, because even Mr. Tough gets scared, contrary to popular belief.

I guess that's why it took me so long for my brain to register the ever so familiar click that any fugitive knows the sound of.

A gun.

**SUSPENSE!**

**So, over the weekend I went to the Quechee balloon festival in Quechee, Vermont, so I have two requests for when you review:**

**Should the Flock encounter hot air balloons? I think it could be interesting…**

**2. Give either a synonym or translation in another language for 'thanks' or 'thank you' because I say it all the time, so different ways to thank my amazing reviewers would be fantastic**


	14. Does That Make Me A Lowlife?

**Jazakhullakhair (I hoped I spelled that right…) to everyone! Faxness4evahh, that is definitely a better way to say thanks. To everyone else, it's Arabic. **

**Other interesting ways? "Much obliged!" Haha, I loved that one, Samz, plus your other ones; Danke, merci, and gracias. Anyway, I'm much obliged for your fantastic review! And I'm thinking of hot air balloons in a chapter near you…**

**SeekDreamsAndFindHope, do-do's are actually pretty cool birds, even though they're extinct, I thought they were amusing in the Ice Age movies. But 'gracias' to your review "Gracias, Mas escriban, por favor. Es un buen idea." **

**FreeSpirit329, thanks for another great review! **

**And Malabsorbent, I apologize and hope death isn't too terrible, but hopefully this will help. Ahh, I love Total and his quotes :D**

**So I'm much obliged to all of you, and without further ado, CHAPTER FOURTEEN!!! And I'm starting to worry myself with all of this… Anyway, Max hears a click and it turns out to be a gun! Gasp! What happens? **

I froze, my heart immediately rising to my throat as the bump of something cold and hard hit my skull lightly. The Flock and Ella turned, and a little scream of fright escaped my half-sister. I breathed in, sure, I'm not part dog so I can't immediately tell who is holding a gun to my head, but I recognized that taint of cigarettes, sweat, testosterone…

"Ahh, who's the lowlife now?" A gravelly voice muttered into my ear. I felt a hand on my shoulder, pulling my arms behind my back so they were crossed.

"Let her go!" Fang snapped, his eyes like black fire. Being part bird, we can see pretty well in the dark, and they all looked ready to snap into action. Part of me was proud that they hadn't forgotten anything after the softer life we had been living recently. The other part, was, well, sort of panicked. What else when a gun was being held to your head?

"Nick," I cautioned, blinking my eyes slowly. Calm down. He tired to glare at me in that 'how the hell am I supposed to do that?' way of his, but the effect was lost with worry.

"Well," I said conversationally, "Does being held at gunpoint make me a lowlife now?"

He shoved me slightly, but held my head still by the gun. It was like on TV when the guy who held them shook hostages roughly, and all the people who could have done something couldn't because of the gun held at the hostage's head. Except this hostage wasn't that defenseless.

"No, really, I was just thinking-"

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay." I muttered. "Lighten up already,"

The gun clicked again. "Don't try to sweet-talk your way out of this one, chick,"

"It's BIRD, to you mister." In one quick moment, I expanded my wings to their complete fourteen-foot wingspan, and flipped upward, kicking my feet upward to throw the gun aside and knock him in the side of the head. Controlling Boyfriend turned Maybe Rapist/Major Creeper crumpled into the dirt. A deafening 'boom' exploded around me and instinctively I rolled to the ground and grabbed at the fallen gun. Kicking the guy's head again, just for good measure, I called out 'Report!' and kept my foot on CB/MR/MC's neck.

"Dammit, Max!" Fang rushed up and grabbed me, his eyes wide. I nodded, breathing heavily. You see, the trick to getting away while held at gunpoint is to be all calm and collected while the gun is at your head, but it's still nerve wracking.

"I'm here!" Angel, all weariness forgotten, ran up and hugged me.

"Who the hell was that?" Iggy asked, stepping out from behind a tree with Ella in tow.

"I don't care, but I think we should set a bomb in his house." Gazzy, glaring at the body under my foot. "Unless he has a trailer, then we should set it in the gas tank thing for ultimate explosion."

"Who was that, Max? Apparently you had met him before because he asked you 'who's the lowlife now?' and I guess you had called him a lowlife, which he totally was. Holding a gun at someone's head totally defines that, plus the clothes he's wearing!"

I think she was going to continue, but I interrupted. "What should I do with him?"

"Showing your wings was goddamn stupid, Max. What if he worked for someone?"

"I don't think he did," I twisted his head to the side to get a better look at his face. "He was beating that girl Sierra, I don't think he'd ever met me before, but that doesn't answer the question…"

"Leave him outside a bar on the other side of town, maybe in an alley with a few empty beer bottles, one half full in his hand." Ella chirped, looking around Iggy who was carefully holding her back from the man. "Spill a bit on his shirt by the neckline and on his mouth, make sure he's slumped, sitting against the wall."

I looked at her, and it wasn't just me. Only Fang looked in the woods for the bullet.

"That's actually a pretty good idea." Gazzy seemed awestruck.

"What can I say?" She shrugged it off. "I watch CSI."

"New York, Miami or Las Vegas? I like New York best, but Las Vegas is-"

"Not the time, Nudge." I barked, "I think Ella's idea is fantastic, but he's gonna wake up sometime so we need to put our plan into action. You can rave about Miami clothing back at the house."

"Or we could just kill him." Fang's voice, colder than Antarctica sounded from the bushes.

I glanced at him as he came out with the bullet in hand. "That does sound appealing, but the body disposal would be a problem."

"Not really." Iggy cracked his knuckles. "See the Gasser and I've got this-"

"Or we could turn cannibal-"

"He's not dead-"

"Yet-"

"I bet we could dare Total into eating it!"

"NOBODY'S KILLING ANYONE TONIGHT!" I kicked the body again and continued in a lower voice. "No matter how much they deserve it."

I put the safety on the gun, and kick-rolled the man's body toward the street, where Fang and I carried him to the dumpster area between two buildings and set up our scene. I noticed that Fang 'accidentally' dragged him on the pavement multiple times. I noticed that I did, too. Another thing I noticed? That he didn't take his eyes off of me the whole time.

"Fang," I muttered, dribbling some beer on his lips. "I'm fine. Really, we used to get attacked all the time, it's-"

"Hard. We used to end up in hospitals. Angel gets kidnapped. Gazzy has always had a little limp after that Eraser fight." Fang whispered, seeming to talk to himself. "I end up a freaking _piñata. _You fall hundreds of feet in the air because of something you can't control." I looked at him, a bottle limp in my hands. To my surprise, he was actually shaking. I murmured his name, dropping the bottle and grabbing his arms. For an instant, I thought I saw the four year old again. Scared in a world that wouldn't help him.

"And we think we're safe when you I shot out of the sky and my mom gets kidnapped, and then some complete stranger tries to shoot me." I finished for him. "It never ends." Dark eyes flicked up to meet mine, an immobile nod.

"But we can fight it." I continued, rubbing his arms. "We always do."

Fang rarely needs comforting, as in, once in a million years. I think the last time I did was at the School, so you know that when he says something like that, he needs help. I wrapped my arms around him, and then began to tow him back towards the Bertucci's and the others.

This just proves the whitecoats are always wrong. We do have thoughts, and they do matter. They don't know what they're talking about half of the time.

"C'mon," I looked at Fang and began to run across the quiet road. "Race you back." His lips twitched in a sort of smile, and bounded forward. Flying is great, but also having enhanced strength enables us to run faster than the average human, so a few moments we had raced back across town and into the woods where the others were waiting.

"Ella?" I asked, stepping out from behind a tree. She jumped, nearly a foot in the air before letting out a relieved sigh.

"God, Max!" I noticed Iggy was rubbing her arms fiercely, trying to stop her shaking. More jittery than a jitterbug, like Nudge after drinking Red Bull.

"I think we need to bring her back to the house." I nodded to Ig, then remembered he couldn't see.

"Let me guess, you're nodding?" He snickered, I smacked his arm. "And by smacking me," Have I ever mentioned how irritating Iggy can be sometimes? Or how surprisingly, he can pull a Nudge and chatter for a while to calm Ella down? "You mean that, yes, as usual, I was correct. Let's hear it for the blind kid everyone! It's not everyone who can interpret things like that," my sister giggled quietly as we trooped back through the forest.

Pretty soon we emerged out of the forest into the large yard, and after checking the area, trooped into the house.

**Ooh, watching Lion King II, because Disney classics never die, and anyway, the badland's pride is gonna go attack pride rock! **


	15. CB?

**Chapter Fifteen: So, it's a rainy day, and even though I love them, guess what spiffy news is about to be announced on the count of seven?**

**One. Two.. Three… Four…. Five….. Six…… Seven!**

**I'm putting up another chapter for you all. Once I write it, that is. **

**Before hand though, Rainie16, yes, Max will probably start to get a little p'od, and merci!**

**LovelyNBlue, yeah, I didn't think she'd need help because the guy was untrained and everything, plus I think she'd like having skill ;)**

It actually wasn't that late, so while Fang disappeared into Blog Land, Gazzy, and Iggy trooped off to bed, Nudge made some hot chocolate for us girls. Yes, it was Arizona, sometime in late spring/early summer, and it was steaming out, but really, you just can't resist hot chocolate!

I slurped some of mine as soon as Nudge plopped some marshmallows into the mug. How long had it been since I had tasted hot chocolate? Forever. It sure seemed like it.

"Max, that was really cool how you got out of that bastard's grip so quickly." Ella kept looking at me like I was magic or something. "I always feel so human when you do something like that."

"Well," Nudge said seriously. "Most humans don't have wings, so when she snaps them out like that I wouldn't expect you to, because, well, yeah. I think it would be weird if you did feel human."

Angel giggled, Ella and I shared a look. Only Nudge could ever come up with something like that.

"Seriously, you guys can do, like, anything!" Ella still seemed slightly shocked. At least she wasn't going into shock, mom would never let us out of the house again.

"We're pretty lacking in the manners department." I mused, adding a few more marshmallows to my mug.

"And we don't follow rules well." Angel giggled again and twirled my ponytail. "It's really funny all the bad guys just expect us, to like, jump in a crate or something."

"And they don't expect us to be fabulous harmonica players." I snickered under my breath. "ter Borcht's expression…"

"ter Borcht?"

"Crazy scientist." I clarified. "Kidnapped us, almost killed us, we back talked to him. He was upset."

"You sound like Fang. But yeah, he's a nutcase and he couldn't eat nine snickers bars in one sitting." Nudge laughed. I heard the clicking stop in the other room and Fang drifted in, computer in arm. His eyebrows were raised, and by the slight set of his lip I could tell he was hiding a smile. I moved over on the bench, making room for him. "And I could do it, and I didn't even throw up, and he…" She gave up, instead taking to laughing. If anyone could talk about ter Borcht and laugh, it'd be Nudge, and I loved her for it.

"Wanna play BS?" Angel asked, scooting onto my lap with a huge smile. Jeez, seven year old minds. There's nothing like 'em.

"Get Ig up." Fang muttered, his brow wrinkled. Translation for Fang Speak? Get Iggy up and I'll play, which will be double the fun because it'll annoy him by getting up AND when I crush his sorry ass. Yes, three words can mean that much.

"If you don't cheat."

"Yes! I haven't played BS in sooo long 'cause I think the last time Iggy shouted what it really means in the middle of an airport and Max got angry at him and then security came over and we had to lie about how someone came up to him and didn't believe that he was blind and Total was his seeing eye dog."

Ella nodded, laughing quietly at Nudge's new story.

"Ella, I do regret to say that your dog has not passed my manners test." Total, appearing out of nowhere, announced loudly. She looked around wildly until he hopped onto her lap.

"Manners test?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes! Rushing to dinner? Failed. Cleaning one's paws after digging? Failed." Total sighed heavily. "Even brushing her teeth, I hate to admit it, Ella, but your dog has failed my course."  
"Total-"

"Don't get me wrong!" He held a paw to her face. "I tried my hardest, and it is against my work ethic to abandon a student, especially one in such turmoil as Magnolia, but I really have no choice."

"Total!"

"But I am pleased to inform you that Magnolia has gotten over the despicable habit of drooling, though she still does in her sleep, but alas that cannot be helped. I'm not going to charge you, seeing as Magnolia is a family friend, so BS?"

Ella looked bemused. Angel and Nudge were giggling hysterically. Fang and I shared a look, and then he pushed the computer at me. I scrolled down to the place he was pointing; it wasn't often he had me read what he was writing on the blog. I could go look whenever I wanted, but he wouldn't volunteer.

"Go get Iggy." I muttered to Angel, and began to read.

**Fang's Blog: **

**Guest Count: **Does it matter? The thing broke ages ago.

Hey everyone-

Thanks for checking in. Not much happening on the home front, just Max beating up some anti-feminist, the AF then holding her at gunpoint, Max beating said bastard all over again, and us dragging him off so it looks like he fell asleep, drunk.

"I just called him CB," I snickered. "Controlling boyfriend."

No more air shows for the CSM, sorry PrettyBirdWannaB123, but we have been hanging out with Dr. Martinez, the co-founder, and on occasion, Jeb, who you've all heard about. Needless to say, we generally ignore him. Unless I'm stopping Max from spitting at him. Or Max is bashing him. Or Iggy is 'accidentally' shoving chairs in his way.

Anyway. Angel wants to play the ever so fun card game, BS. Does anyone ever notice it's the adorable mind reader who suggests these things? Maybe it's just me. So she's going up to get Iggy (who's actually pretty good at it, as long as Total tells him what he has) and Total comes over to talk to Ella Martinez. He informs her that he's been giving her dog, Magnolia, and Akila, who you've also heard about, manners lessons. Seeing as he has a thing for the malamute, she passed with flying colors. Magnolia has failed at everything but not drooling when she's awake.

Success!

Not really. Magnolia actually doesn't drool that much, just pointing that out.

Total finishes his speech by telling Ella that he will not charge her.

????

Does anyone else's little sort-of-sister have a talking dog who does this because if you could clear this kind of stuff up that'd be great.

Also! Coming to a birdkid near you: Crazy Cat Ladies and Their Cats. Yep. We were having breakfast when this lady came in with her cat. Apparently she's been in Europe for six years because of a sneeze coming from her feline. I disappeared into a corner, the rest of the Flock went somewhere, when the cat started sniffing at my feet. I couldn't do anything or I'd show myself, the CCL wouldn't let Ella pick up her cat, so instead, I have a quick announcement. Any football or soccer teams need recruits? Because Ella M. has got quite the kick, for a human.

She booted the cat across the room and out the window.

I felt sorta bad for the cat, but it was still hilarious. Nobody noticed me, Max, or any other birdkid, the CCL has since stopped bothering the Martinez's and the cat got to run away from her rather controlling owner. It's a win-win situation, and don't we all love those?

Over and out, and a big shout out (can you do shout outs on blogs? I don't care, I'll do one) to Sierra of Bertucci's, thanks for the other night, and hopefully your ex won't be bothering you anymore. I think he'll have to much of a headache-I'm not going to say I didn't mean to 'accidentally sort of on purpose' drop his head on some bricks. Max says hello to everyone, and Total wants to know if he can expand his business for some of your dogs. Max vetoed it.

-Fang

I was laughing by the end, but Fang ushered the others away and clicked 'update'. Iggy was down by now, and Ella had dealt, so we began.

"Three tens."

I let it slide. Common rule, if it's Fang, just let it go unless you're sure. He could beat professionals at poker, just with his face.

"BS." Fang pushed the pile toward Ella, grinning wickedly. I leaned over and whispered my advice in her ear, and watched her put the twenty cards in her hand.

"You should have saved it for Max." Angel mused. "I have all the jacks."

"You only have four cards." Ella snickered. "But thanks, Max can go now."

"I'm not even going to bother, go Angel."

"Four jacks."

And that, my friends, is how mind readers win at BS.

**I promise the next chapter will be longer and involve Fax, perhaps some Eggy, and hot air balloons! As Fang put it, a win-win situation.**


	16. It's Just Like A Sandwich

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**MaxRideRox, don't worry about sounding stupid, I asked one of my friends if a phone brand (Alias) was a book… But thanks for reviewing! BS (Bullshit) Is a card game where players go through the deck (Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King) but if you don't have the card (for instance, if you have twos, but you don't have any, you have to lie) and if people think you're lying, they say "BS" and if you are, you take the pile of cards put down, but if you actually had a two, then they'd get it. You want to be the first to use all your cards. Bad explanation, but I hope you sort of get it…**

** Rainie16, I totally agree about the hot chocolate!**

** LovelyNBlue, thanks, and I'm glad it's amusing!**

** Samz, that's just like when I'm cracking up at fanfictions and my sister just looks at me and rolls her eyes. Ahh, good times :D So, this is gonna sound creepy, but I didn't mean it in a creepy way, but I found your review amusing and so I looked at your profile and I've read some of the same books, and I was like 'wow' because I LOVE THE BOOK THEIF! And I read the Wicked series and A Great and Terrible Beauty and it seems like nobody I know has read them, so I was just sort of, yeah. Anyway, 'much obliged' for your review!**

** Weightless, thanks for the review and new way to say thank you! Everyone, a new and totally awesome way to say thanks is Portuguese and is means 'obrigada!' **

** Hannah Brandon 1234321, I loved your reviews! I've always wanted to learn Irish, your first review was so cool! Everyone, this is what she wrote! **_Go__Raibh Maith Agat! {pronunciation: guh rev mah a gut}_

_Thank you, as gailge {in irish}_

_Go raibh míle maith agat le do scríobh!_

_Ba mhaith liom ag leamh sé arís, ach tá tuirse an DOMHAIN orm._

_Obair íonatch._

_Do chara,_

_Hannah_ **pretty cool, huh? Anyways, to answer some questions/responses in your next review… Brownie cake would be the best! Win-win situation, as we keep seeming to have. The GazBallon and Co would be hilarious, but sadly I wrote that part before your review ;) I'm thinking a few more videos, I've still got to cram the others in, but they aren't going to go on forever. The story will probably end up happy, but there will be a sequel… Speaking of crazy cat ladies, I saw one on the road the other day. Multiple cat bumper stickers, it was great. **

** And now, many thanks and obrigada and gailge to reviewers, chapter sixteen!**

You see, not only when you live with us does it force you to buy a lot of food, but creative as well. Alarm clocks just don't do it anymore, because even though it takes a second to get us up, we just throw them at a wall (or rock, anything hard, really). So mom and Ella took pots and pans and began to bang them, walking through the house. Ella even took some CD/radio player thing and blasted rap to which Iggy stumbled out of his room screaming that his ears were bleeding and asking if Ella had met up with Osama bin Laden recently.

"HE'S DEAD!" Ella hollered over the radio, but DEAD was incredibly loud because Fang yanked the extension cord out of the wall and stomped on it.

"God, my ears." He moaned, collapsing to his knees. Ella turned toward him, her mouth in a little 'o' of horror.

"Oh, God, Fang, I'm sorry I forgot you guys have good hearing! Are you okay? Did I blast your eardrums?"

"Eminem." Fang moaned, shaking his head back and forth. "Kanye West. Soulja Boi. Must. Destroy." I rolled my eyes and dragged him to his feet.

"Stop having your little namby-pamby boy whine fest." I kicked his shins, then tried to dodge as he retaliated. Note, tried.

"It's not namby-pamby. Namby-pamby white boys think they're rappers, so they wouldn't be complaining." Nudge announced, surprisingly chipper (and yes I said 'chipper') for a morning.

"Fang thinks it's crap music and that-" I threw my hand over Angel's mouth. I had heard enough of Fang's rants on music these days that I didn't want Angel thinking it. Let alone near my mother.

"OKAY!" I announced over her voice, and kicked Fang again when he snickered. "What's for breakfast?"

"Waffles good with everyone? Then I had this idea I can tell you about at the table. Ella, Fang, go get some orange juice for everyone. Nudge and Angel, plates, Iggy can help me with the food…" That left mom looking at me with slight amusement.

"I'll mix us up some butter!" I said with a heavy southern drawl. "Or fry some chickens. Or…"

"Not cook?"

"I was going to say get the mail, from yesterday."

Mom clapped her hands together with a big smile. "Now that that's sorted out, c'mon everybody!"

"You sound like Mary Poppins." Ella rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Next you'll be singing or pushing drugs on us or something."

"Mary Poppins isn't a drug pusher!" Nudge snapped, jumping up on the stair railing and sliding down. "She just…"

"Yes, she is." Ella trooped down stairs, leading the rest of us. "She even sings to the kids to try and make them take meds, some might call it witchcraft!"

I wasn't aware Ella cared about witchcraft, but she sounded like she was kidding, so an half an hour or so later, we were all gathered around the table and shoving waffles down our throats. I buttered Angel's for her and cut them into tiny pieces before starting on my own.

"So, I know you guys like flying on your own and everything, but I had this idea-" Mom began, but was unable to finish as Angel squeaked in delight and already unleashed classic Bambi eyes on me.

"Hold up, let me find out what she wants!" I protested, closing my eyes before I could agree to whatever she wanted. Who knows? It could be a makeover.

"I have a close friend who generally travels around the U.S. for work, but she has a private hot air balloon company. I told her that Ella's cousins were here from New Hampshire and that they might like a ride today. They're small, only two to a basket, but I thought it'd be a fun thing to do." Mom took a bite of her waffles. "What do you think?"

The Flock looked at me. I looked at the rest of the Flock. We could fly away if need be, and it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Private?" I clarified, only breathing out slightly when mom nodded. "How many?"

"She's blowing them up now, there's one for Angel, Nudge, and Ella; another for Gazzy and Iggy, plus one you and Fang. How about it?"

"Does she know about…us?"

Mom smirked. "Do you really think I'd tell anyone about you? No, I'll be staying on the ground with my friend."

"PleaseohmygodprettypleaseMax? We'veneverbeenonahotairballoon andIknowwecanflybutwouldn'tthatbesofreakingawesome? Preeeettyyprettyplease?" Angel joined in Nudge's whine and even Gazzy had something that looked like it could-possibly-maybe-but-I-don't-want-to-say-it-out-loud-because-Gaz-would-be-embarresed-and-teased-by-Iggy be Bambi eyes.

"Alright, alright!" I exclaimed. Honestly? Balloon rides sounded okay, but was the rant really necessary? Well, I guess with Nudge it is, but one can always hope. Even with bird hearing, I'll probably need hearing aids when (and if) I get old. The Flock cheered, Gazzy and Iggy looked enormously excited at the prospect of planning time without me. "Well," I turned again to mom, "When do we leave?"

Apparently as soon as we cleaned up the kitchen, got everyone cleansed and clothed and all that good stuff, we piled into mom's car and took a ride towards the desert. On the way there, mom explained how the things worked and Ella tried to get something other than static from the radio and Iggy and Gazzy argued about the best way to diffuse a bomb ("Why would you, though? Why not just set it off!") And then mom asking if they were serious to which they started laughing. Translation: Hell yes I'm serious but I've seen an angry Max and since you're her biological relative we can pretend I'm not. As soon as mom stopped the car, I nearly flew out the doors for fresh air and space.

"Val!" A high, sort of girlish voice called. I took a 360 view of the area. There were three small balloons, equipment, and a shortish woman with a tanned face and laugh lines walking towards mom.

"Hey, Liv!" Mom rushed toward the woman and they hugged, before she stepped apart and introduced us. "Guys, this is Olivia Winston."

"Call me Liv." She laughed again, and kept smiling at us like it was her last day on earth. Who knows? Maybe it was.

"Liv, you remember Ella?" Ella shook hands with her, I could tell it had been an 'I remember when you were in diapers' kind of thing. "Then, this is Angelica, Crystal, Zephyr, Jack, Nick, and Max. They're Ella's cousins on her father's side, they used to live in Australia so they've been a bit out of touch but now they live in New Hampshire, so we get to see them about once a year."

Liv's face brightened considerably and she looked at us with interest.

"This is going to sound so weird, but I've always loved Australian accents. Have you lost yours since coming to the states?"

Oh shoot.

"Uhh, sorta." I cleared my throat. "But my mates at school are always trying to get it out of me." If the Flock hadn't had such practice with keeping a straight face, they would have been rolling around laughing. I could feel it. I was lucky I had seen some Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter shows when I was sick onetime…

"Croikey!" Gazzy yelled in a perfect imitation of said crocodile man. "This is so cool, mate, that you're gonna take us up in these." Now _I _had to practice my straight face for the first time in a while, and I'll admit it was hard. All I would have to do was think of Gozen and the birdseed and I'd blow up.

_It was granola, it was granola…_

"Well I'll expect you're all ready to go up in the balloons? And Val told you how to use them?" She stepped aside and waved us onward. "Just holler if you need anything."

Fang and I hopped into one with a little rainbow balloon and slightly small basket. It was lucky we were so light. With the instruction manual, mom's advice, and pure smarticalness, we managed to get it going pretty well, and soon enough we were rising up into the air. Only when we were well out of earshot of Liv did Fang look at me with a crooked smile.

"How're your mates doin'?

I snickered and punched his shoulder.

"You know," I sighed, dropping the matter and looking out at the cumulus clouds. "This is actually kind of nice. Being up in a balloon." I tried to ignore the feeling I got from Fang being so close to me that our arms brushed together, 'cause you know raging hormones just can't get crazy enough these days. I felt a soft touch on the top of my head, Fang kissing me.

I refuse to admit that it made my heartbeat stutter a little. And that a little shiver went down my back. We stood there for a while, in our little balloon, occasionally using more hot air for more altitude. Not an awkward silence, a companionable one where neither of us felt the need to say anything. He gave me a hug around the middle; I leaned back into his arms so they rested there.

"Wonder what would happen if Gazzy and Iggy put one of their bombs in that incinerator?"

Fang looked at me. "Is it hard? Having thoughts like that?"

"Immensely." I snapped. "Now what do you think?"

"I think it'd be a damn awesome explosion, but we'd have a lot of explaining to do." I turned around in his arms with a terrible thought and put my hands on his shoulders so I could look him in his deep…eyes. Just eyes. Okay? Got it? Good.

"Please, please tell me your not turning into a pyromaniac!" I begged. "Seriously, the state my brain is in, I gotta stay sane _some_how!"

Fang laughed, like, actually _laughed. _The wind tossed our hair around as he hugged me again, lifting me up some to plant a quick kiss on my lips before setting me down again. I was glad that he didn't take his arms away, though. He laughed again, quietly, into my ear and I smiled.

It was just so perfect, you know? And for once in my life, nothing went drastically wrong to ruin the moment. I think I'm sort of getting over that hating emotions thing, because as Paramore puts it, "God it just feels so good."

Hayley Williams sure knows what she's talking about.

**Total Point of View!!!!! Oh, so I promised you guys a long chapter, and I sorta needed an idea and I didn't want them to leave as soon as they went up in the balloons, and so I think TOTAL!!! What has he been doing this whole time? Are you prepared? Fantastic, so let's have a countdown in the meager Latin I remember from school.**

**Decem!**

**Novem!**

**Octo!**

**Septem!**

**Sex! (No dirty jokes people, it's Latin)**

**Quinque? Quinte? Quintus? Something like that…**

**Quattor!**

**Tres!**

**Duo!**

**Uno! **

**Gosh that was long. And my first authors note was a whole page + on Word. Here we go.**

**Total! By the way, when they talk, they're barking. But to them it's words 'cause they're dogs.**

"Sweetness!" I trotted into the barn, sniffing the air for the trail of the most beautiful dog in the entire universe, most sweet-smelling GODDESS that has ever and will ever touch this earth. You have no idea how…

"Akila!" I barked. Not like that. Like Max when she catches Iggy and Gazzy with bombs. As in angrily. "What have I told you about your complexion and catching mice? Not only is it unladylike, but you're setting a bad example for lower life forms…" I looked pointedly at Magnolia, sniffing at some horse scat left in one of the stalls. Akila turned to look at me and lifted up one of her gorgeous paws, allowing the mouse to escape. She sighed theatrically (by the way, I was thinking of maybe starting a show. I'd write it, and it'd be a musical, of course. There is no better way to get a feeling across, especially love, than through music or Shakespeare. Akila and I would star, be the leading lord and lady, and if we must we could drag the fungus around. She could be our slave, oops; I mean servant, offstage and pretty much the same on. I don't think she has enough brain cells to notice, or mind. We could even bribe her with a personalized t-shirt for the fans.) and walked toward me, sitting in the sunny doorway to the barn.

"Total, dearest," she crooned, melting my heart with one look from her soft, brown eyes… "Of course I care about my skin, but girl's just want to have fun. You can get Ella to bathe me later! After all, you must be part Scottie, and don't they rat?"

"Well, yes." I said, drawing myself up to my full height. "In Europe, actually, Scottish Terriers were the epitome of useful. What would the Scotts have done without us?" I began to walk forward, trailing her as she walked forward with her nose to the earth. "We caught more rats than even the cats could, almost eliminating the Black Plague from the sacred territory. William Wallace would have been proud. Anyway,"

"William who, sweetie?" I closed my eyes and breathed in and out to calm down. Akila is an incredibly intelligent dog, definitely the smartest in the field, but she knows absolutely nix on history. It wasn't her fault of course, but the owner. If there is ever something wrong with the dog, it is undoubtedly because of the human. Really, oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. William Wallace.

"A human and one of the saviors of Scotland. He transformed the rash and scattered men into an army that held the English at bay and saved the land. A freedom fighter, and one of the best at that. One of his greatest weapons was in fact, called a 'claymore' which is a sword above average in length. That is just one of the ways to identify the sword, but some other weapons include the dirk and a shield with a spike on one end to block _and _stab-" I whistled, seriously, William Wallace was a killing machine.

"Total, I love you, but you're a man, and men can be so barbaric!"

"And who's hunting mice, may I ask?" I huffed, sitting down in the dust and glaring in Magnolia's direction. It was all her fault. At least, I could pretend it was the fungi's fault; it was just more fun that way. Guys just want to have fun.

**Max Point of View**

I'll admit, I enjoyed myself in the hot air balloon. But, as usual with my life, the happiness had to end. Sooner than later. Sooner meaning sitting in mom's living room again with a flat screen, Jeb, and childhood videos. By the way, 'sooner' is amusing to write over and over again. I found that out when Nudge was ranting back in some cave and I needed to write something down so I was just writing 'sooner' over and over. Like this:

Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner.

Tres amusante, is it not? Ella taught me that. I think it means 'amusing' or something in French. Anyway. I probably shouldn't have had that last chocolate bar. Well, Fang had, like, three more than me with extra sugar, so how does he manage to look all calm and collected? Hmm? Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner Sooner.

Well, lucky for anyone reading this, my sugar high ended as soon as mom (handling the remote with care) pressed that spiffy little button to play. So, as soon (SOONER) as she pressed 'play' the high ended, but I'm filling this space 'cause there was like five minutes when we forgot that Gazzy had taken the batteries earlier and Iggy had blown them up in my bedroom. So then I got up and pressed the button on the TV but I pressed the wrong one so the screen turned black and white and sizzled like bacon (what can I say? I like food) which made me jump about a foot back, so Ella came over to help me, and I went back to sit with Fang.

"I cut out the part where you guys were in your cages, because you were just sleeping and then you had a fit when the Erasers came to grab you, but there was nothing important." Jeb explained when I looked at him, confused, as the arena where most tests were performed, showed up on the screen. I nodded, then watched as Fang and I were tossed out of the crates and taser-herded (being herded with a taser) to the center. I half dragged Fang; his leg was obviously still broken and couldn't bear any weight. He was like a dilapidated crane.

"Testing, testing," a voice crackled around the arena. Fang and I jumped, already circling, back-to-back. I held one of his arms so he could keep the broken foot suspended. "Subjects One and Two, 10442 and 10447, are to fight to the death against lupine-homo sapien crosses. Weisman, do you copy?"

"I read you, Romanvy." Another voice, slightly deeper but still sounding like he was smoking a mouthful of cigarettes replied. I spotted the speakers, four spaced evenly around the circular arena.

"Fang?" The younger me whispered. "What does that mean? Who're we fighting?"

He shrugged, a little bulge in his throat as he gulped nervously. I could tell that both of our eyes were trying to figure out what was happening. (That will never stop sounding weird, but you know what I mean, right? I watched our younger selves, and their eyes were flicking about nervously.)

"Got your back." I said in a monotone suitable for Fang as two wooden blocks on each side of the arena began to slide open like garage doors.

"Got yours."

"Your leg!" I hissed as two Erasers began to run out of each door, four in all.

"How do we kill them?" He asked, sounding slightly panicked. It was so big in there that the Erasers had yet to reach us, though all four were slowing and beginning to circle us, even as we made our own smaller circle.

"Squish their heads? They need their heads, right?"

"Look at the little birdies," one Eraser barked a laugh. "Chirping away. Twitter, twitter, twitter." He leaned in and spat in my dirt encrusted face. I was facing the camera, and even though it was slightly grainy, it got a good shot of me screwing up my face and spitting right back.

"I like this one," it growled to the others, and in one swift motion, grabbed my head in his claw-like fingers. Red spots appeared where his claws dug into my scalp. "Feisty ones are always more fun…and tastier." While he was laughing with his buddies, playing with us like cat and mouse, I reached my free fist back and socked him, right in the jaw.

"Now!" Fang yelled, rearing back on his good leg and springing forward right into one of the larger Erasers. He began to pummel the Erasers head, leaving it limp within seconds, but another Eraser grabbed him by the waist and yanked him up.

"Fang!" I screamed, charging forward and catching his Eraser in the foot. "Let! Him! GO!" Somehow, like some weird trapeze artist, I scrambled up the eight-foot monster and slammed against his ears. It howled in pain and collapsed to the floor where Fang delivered a bone crunching kick to the neck, leaving it limp. I saw his face screw up in pain, as he had to use his bad leg. I have no idea how he did it, but after the Eraser fell, so did Fang. The two other Erasers paired up, one grabbing his arms; the other his legs (both) and began to pull, while the larger one had my arm in one hand. Snarling, I sunk my teeth into his arm, looking like some deranged mutant child (except guess what? I _was_ some deranged mutant child!) It let Fang go, just as the other one spun and released, flinging Fang a good thirty feet into the wall.

Again, I screamed his name as the two Erasers charged at me. I kept wanting to yell at the screen, 'step lighter! Dodge! Use your size to your advantage!' but it would make no difference. Fang, the fourteen-year-old one, sucked in a breath when one grabbed my neck, my feet scrabbling uselessly against the bloody sand until he lifted me into the air. My face was turning purple. In the corner, thirty feet away, I saw Fang lift his head slightly as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. The Eraser not choking off my air supply was slowly running his claws down my arms, piercing the skin. Fang tried to slither forward, but collapsed after five feet just as my flailing foot connected with the Eraser's face, his grip loosened, and I slipped away.

I remembered, trying to bring the two Erasers away from my only friend.

"How do you kill them?" I shrieked to Fang, praying he was alive. "FANG?!"

"He's dead, little birdie. Your boyfriend's _dead._"

"LIAR!" My voice was so high pitched, scratchy with exhaustion and pain, the Erasers winced, giving me the chance to dart around them and slam their head's together.

"Bitch!" One of them snarled, grabbing my foot and flinging me a few feet away. Before I could scramble to my feet, the other one snatched my arm and pinned both behind my back.

"Filthy _wench!_" The big one insulted me again, clawing my face so a huge red line ran from my eye to my chin. Then it began to claw at my back until it held my wings, and bracing itself by putting a foot to my back, he began to pull on my wings. I stiffened; Fang tried murmuring words of comfort but they were lost as his eyes widened in horror at the scene on the screen.

"That's what you get, asshole!" Spit flecked my younger face as the Erasers continued to yell and pull and I screamed in agony.

"Max," Angel asked suddenly. Mom muted the screen for a second-I refused to believe that there were tear streaks on her cheeks-and I looked at Angel, cowering into Ella. "The Erasers didn't have very nice language, did they?"

"No, Angel." I forced myself to laugh, but it sounded like I was choking. A hand began to rub smoothing circles around where my wings connected to my back. Fang. "They didn't have very nice language. Don't repeat it."

Angel, a seven year old watching something so terrible you can't even imagine, winked at me with a cheeky grin.

"You can play it." I muttered to mom. "Just turn it down a tad."

I was still screaming, but I tried to shut my mouth so I wouldn't show them how much pain I was in. That angered them, but I didn't make a peep. I remembered the vague feeling of having some control over them. They could make me feel pain, but I didn't have to show it. I took a quick glance around the living room. All eyes but Iggy's, Fang's, and my own were locked on my struggle.

"FANG!" It escaped me, just as something came hurtling through the air.

"Whaat?" Nudge breathed, looking at the four year old, blood soaked, black haired Fang who had somehow crawled a few feet more toward a body, grabbed something, a boot, I think, and tossed it, as hard as he could. Then he collapsed again on his back, breathing heavily, but the boot met its mark.

It hit the Eraser with my wings in his arms straight in the head, stunning it and distracting both enough for me to get away. I was panting, red with blood, limping, but I was standing.

"Tear it!" Fang gasped, somehow loudly, his voice carrying. He cleared his throat again, blood bubbled on his chest. "Like a sandwich," you could hear dimly. My younger self was circling, keeping away from the Erasers, while using bird ears to listen.

"Tear it." I muttered.

"Necks!" He yelled with the spurt of energy. "LIKE THE SANDWICH!"

I nodded, and surprised the smaller Eraser by leaping at it's turned back (it was looking at Fang, ready to charge) and gave it a try. I watched as if in slow motion, I placed one hand on the shoulder, one of the head, and wrenched. Like tearing a sandwich. With a grunt of surprise, the Eraser fell.

That left one more, the one who had let the others do most of the dirty work but was nearly 8' 5" and myself. I didn't hesitate, I ran through his legs, came out on the other side, tore up his back, and tore. I mean, when you reference sandwiches to a hungry four year old, expect results. At the last moment, the neck snapped, just as it wrapped its beefy fingers around my neck. It collapsed, and I rolled away.

There was a moment of silence on the screen where all you could hear was my heavy breathing, and then if you listened very carefully, Fang's shallow rasp.

"Fang?" I coughed, pulling myself through the red stained sand until I finally reached him. "Fang?" I put my hand behind his back and carefully pushed him upwards. "Are you alright?"

Both Fangs, the younger and older, looked at both of me then, with the same raised eyebrows and quirk of the mouth, though the younger one's effect was sort of lost by the pain.

"Did you kill them?" He croaked, eyelids fluttering. I nodded, a grim smile touching my face.

"Just like a sandwich."


	17. Lessons From Reality TV Shows

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**That last bit was a bit gruesome… sandwiches will never mean the same thing to me again. I won't be updating for the next five days or so, I'm going to Connecticut for some family reunion/4****th**** of July time, but I'll bring my notebook to write! Anyway, feedback for totally awesome reviewers here we go: CHSMR-thanks! Yes, Max is a bit dull for not realizing it sooner, don't you think? **

**Samz-we're the unique and awesome ones, it's great ;) Yeah, I sort of got that part from MAX when they're at that building after Dr. M is kidnapped, but thanks! Don't get killed by your reviewers…**

**Givemeur#fang-that means a lot, and I'm 'much obliged!' Haha, I love using all these thank-yous people supplied**

**Destiny-thanks so much, that really made me so CHIPPER! Like Nudge in the morning :D**

**SeekDreamsAndFindHope, I love powdered sugar *****yum * and I'm really loving that pudding right now! Much Arigato! Or many arigato, much thanks doesn't make sense. Really, thanks sooo much! **

**LovelyNBlue, yes, gross and funny. I'm not sure where I got the sandwich line… Gracias/Merci verrry much! **

**So without further ado… I give you… CHAPTER SEVENTEEN! ALMOST TO THE TWENTIES! **

The tape clicked quietly, before turning black, then scratchy color.

"I edited it," Jeb announced. "There was just you sleeping, some bone repair surgery, and a few more tests."

"Tests?" Fang asked him, voice rough. I grabbed his hand and began rubbing it. His skin was ice cold.

"Blood tests, arsenic levels, mercury levels," Jeb reeled them off like numbers. I glared at him. Nudge and Angel were shivering in Ella's arms. The Gasman was holding Iggy's arm like it was life support. Mom had a tissue and was dabbing at her eyes. I kept rubbing Fang's arms, then his shin where it had been broken all that time ago.

"And?"

Jeb suddenly looked at me and stood up, crossing his arms. "Don't take that tone with me, Max." He snapped, unleashing a glare of his own. "I'm tired of your continuing rudeness to me and as your father-"

"Father?" I growled, standing up immediately. I dimly realized I was shaking. "Father?" I repeated. "I may _tolerate _you, Jeb, but you'll never be my father. Biologically? Yes. But if there is one thing reality TV shows have taught me is that a real father isn't necessarily biological. And just so we can get this across, get it clear and through your _thick skull_, I'll take that one with you until what you did is repaid. Therefore, I'll take that tone with you until _the day you die._" I clapped my hands together and rubbed them in anticipation. "So why don't you sit you butt down and we continue watching this video? As you keep reminding me, the world isn't saving itself."

I sat back down next to Fang and leaned in a bit closer. It was our little room, and we were slumped in our crates. My face was bloodstained, and Fang wasn't much better. Our hair was stuck in weird clumps, Pantene would have had a field day with us. With a weird 'whoosing' noise, the door slid open and Fang and I tensed, ready to fight even in our cages, when a 'meow' echoed around the room.

"Oh god." I whispered. "Not the cat."

Fang shook his head, either unwilling or unable to speak. I wasn't aware.

"Is it gonna attack you? Bite you?" Nudge gasped. "Is it rabid?"

I watched it walk forward, and Fang and I lean forward curiously. It 'mrrow'ed again, and a rough purr began to echo around the room.

"What is it?" I asked quietly. "I've never seen anything like it."

Fang, the younger one, looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Don't you ever listen to what the whitecoats say?"

I almost shook my head, but visibly winced as my aching body moved. "No, I don't like listening to them. They're mean. Bad. Evil."

"Well, yeah." Said Fang, poking his fingers through the bars to rub the fur on the cat. It's purr increased. "But listen to them to keep a step ahead."

I glared at him. "Do you know what it is?"

"_Felis catus,_ a domestic house cat, whatever the hell that means, but that's what the whitecoats say." I reached my own bony fingers through to pet it, and smiled widely as my fingers brushed the soft fur.

"Is it dangerous?" Even as I asked though, you could tell I didn't really think it.

"No, but it's relatives are. _Panthera atrox, Panthera pardus, _Panthera_ onca,_" Fang grinned suddenly as the cat licked his fingers.

"It's fur is so soft!" I exclaimed, giggling quietly when the cat curled it's talk around my hand. The purring was so loud, I doubted it had any attention before meeting Fang and I.

"What so bad about it?" Ella asked, looking at Fang and I. We were both visibly shaking. I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. I remembered it, remembered the feel of fur under my fingers, remembered the tickle of the cat tongue, remembered the bang,

Everyone in the room jumped as something exploded.

"A gun." Iggy swallowed. "Hand rifle, probably the newest model at the time." When the smoke cleared from the camera, it was a bit smudged, but you could see Fang and I cowering in the back of our cages with fresh blood spattered over everything.

The body of the cat was sprawled out right between our cages; it's mouth opened in a soundless yowl and the eyes glazed over. Dead. A whitecoat and an Eraser (holding a hand rifle) stood in the doorway, the man in white scribbling furiously. Footsteps from the hall, and another whitecoat appeared. A woman, red hair, adding to the list of why I _hate _redheads.

"They're recovering well," she murmured quietly, coming over to look at us with some weird glasses. Fang and I were still curled up, but I spat in her face. She wiped it away calmly and moved on to Fang.

"Good thing, too." The first whitecoat muttered while writing. "They shouldn't have been paired with four Erasers, it was nearly too much. It will take ages for them to get back to full physical health, and we have tests to carry out."

"You can't make us!" I growled at them, moving to crawl to the front of my cage. My mouth parted to say something else, but the Eraser leaned forward and pointed the gun at my head. I scurried to the back of my cage again, eyes wide in fear. We knew what the guns did now.

"The dark one, 10447, did surprisingly well with a broken tibia." The redhead observed, reading notes pinned to the side of our cages. "Snapped one Eraser's neck and caused the other a brain hemorrhage. They both killed two."

"10442 has surprising coping abilities, though. She had a absorbed maximum arsenic, Batchelder found she is all but immune to it, and I watched her in the ring."

Fang suddenly looked up, twitching a wing slightly to poke me through the bars of the cage. I don't think I noticed, but as soon as the whitecoats and Eraser left, I stuck my head out a bit to peer at the body, wiping something from my eyes with a sleeve. Fang did the same.

"Is it…?" He asked me, not needing to put the thought into words.

I nodded and retched in my cage, but only bloody spittle landed on the cage floor. My stomach was empty.

"I guess…you can kill something other ways, too." I whispered. "Not just like a sandwich."

"Speaking of which," Fang coughed. "I'm starved. Wonder if we can eat it."

I looked at him, just to make sure he was kidding. It was obvious; he had barely choked the words out before turning to cough something up in the corner of his cage.

"But," he coughed again, "I thought of something."

"Escape?" Immediately I brightened and turned to him, away from the cat. Fang straightened and looked at me with a slight smirk. Next to me, Fang grinned even though he was watching tortured young birdkids covered in blood and grime.

"Wishfully. A name. For you. The whitecoats say you have 'maximum capabilities' or something like that. Maximum." I watched myself lean back in my cage, chewing it over.

"Well, it's a bit of a mouthful."

"We could shorten it. Max, maybe?" I smiled slightly when I watched myself brighten as if I wasn't stuck in a dog crate and more battered than any person had a right to be.

"Maximum." I said carefully, to Fang's delight. "Max."

**Okay, so I know that was short but I actually should be packing for my trip right now and I wanted to update what I had so I don't leave you all hanging. Plus, I think Fang naming Max is a sweet way to end it!**


	18. Not Ella

**Chapter Eighteen…**

**Muchos gracias to everybody! My vacation was fabulous, except for two jerks, but my family straightened them out. Hears to having lots of cousins and a teddy bear named Jimmy! We saw some awesome fireworks, went to a minor league ball game, had a Disney (any other animated Disney-movie-like) move marathon, decorated/made cupcakes, the usual good, clean fun! Ha, I love it when people say that. I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, we've been moving into my mom's house and just got the internet up.**

**Rainie16-yes, great lyrics! **

**Faxluvur-glad you like it, sorry about the wait**

**LovelyNBlue- I thought Jeb deserved that :D **

**Rainie16 again, thanks! Here's the update, two chapters at least**

**Mo-merci! Really ******

**Kelsey Goode-thanks!**

**I was rambling today, as well, Luna, Nudge syndrome must be catching. Haha, but thanks, or Meda wo ase which is such a cool way to say thanks! I'm really glad you like it so much, and I haven't eaten my pudding. I mean, you've got a point because I don't really like metal and wires or paper… **

**ESTRELLITAS-thank you! Or Jak which is short for a way that someone said a while back, I feel bad that I can't remember who or what language…**

**Queen-thanks!**

**Anyway, here we go. Gimmie an C! Gimmie an H! Gimmie a rest of the words and the chapter! Ugh. I'm not a cheerleader and never will be, nothing personal to any cheerleaders out there… But yeah. I'm done rambling like Nudge (I think it was Luna who was talking about that in the review??) And by the way, later in the chapter, Max's opinion on Harry Potter is totally NOT mine and will be heavily addressed in the sequel, which will come out after this one in which the Flock actually has to save the world. **

I still heard the little echo of my high voice in my head, even after mom's daily batch of chocolate cookies and a quick head-clearing flight.

_Maximum. Max. _And then there was Fang's ever-reassuring voice. _A name. For you. Maximum._

"_Max!_"

"_What, _Ella?" Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have barked at her like that. But I was absorbed in my thoughts, so there was no reason for her to bark at me like that. I looked at her; nearly upending her shorts drawer (she has a whole drawer! Just for SHORTS! Isn't that cool? I have, like, a pocket for my wardrobe!) for her black lacrosse shorts. Apparently they're supposed to wear kilts, but Ella 'lost' hers, so she was wearing her soccer shorts for her lacrosse game. Confusing, I know.

"I was just wondering if you could check if my uniform is in the dryer, but if you're so busy with yourself I guess it can wait…" I'll admit, I felt a bit bad for snapping. Ella was having a lacrosse game in about two hours, but they had to get there an hour early, except the whole Flock and her mother was showing up and for some reason she was extremely worried. Mom went to all of her games, I didn't know why having six more fans wouldn't help…

"No, sorry, Ells." I leaned back on her rocking chair. "It's on your bed, though, remember?"

"Oh, god, sorry." She pushed herself up from the mess that was her floor, shorts in hand and began to change. "Completely forgot…here, toss me a tank top, will you?" I did, reaching down to the floor to grab a blue one.

"Why're you so nervous?" I asked, fingering a strand of hair. It was getting long; I was planning on hacking it off again later…

"Wouldn't you be?" She replied, pulling her white and maroon uniform over her head. "Plus, we're playing the best team in our league, and I'm defensive wing so we get a ton of action which gives us more of a chance to screw up so I'd screw up in front of all of you and that would totally suck because not only would I embarrass myself, but then the other team would undoubtedly score a goal!"

Nudge was giving her lessons. It was officially decided.

I got up, stepped around the two air mattresses, one with Celeste, the other a few fashion magazines, and looked down at my younger sister. I had never seen her play, heck, the only thing I knew about lacrosse was that you run with sticks in your hand and try to score points. You RUN, though.

"Ella," I told her, looking her up and down. "The most I know about lacrosse is that you need to run, and if there's anything that I've learned, long, strong legs are helpful to running." Ella looked down at her scrawny but tough tanned legs and maroon socks. "A fit body helps, too." I continued. "You're thin, strong, a bit short, but you don't need to be a supermodel! Look at Angel, killing Erasers at just four feet!"

Ella giggled quietly, blushing.

"You'll do fine." I continued, patting her once on the shoulder before collapsing once again on her bed. "I know everyone always says that and I hate it when people tell me I'll 'do fine', but I promise. Better than fine. Ready? Mom wants to get there early." She nodded, still smiling, and grabbed her blue and silver stick from the bed.

"ELLA!" Mom called from the stairs. "Hurry up!"

"Coming!" She hollered back, then glanced at me again. "I look okay?"

"Lacrosse Super Star!" I giggled. "Just get yourself a Sketchers theme song and some shiny cleats and you'll be golden!" My half-sister laughed, pigtails (courtesy of Nudge) swishing and pulled me downstairs where mom handed her a bag and ushered us out the door. The Flock, minus Fang and Iggy, where piled into the minivan, until Ella hopped in with Iggy right behind her. Sharing a glance and a long sigh at _again _having to sit in a car, we buckled up.

It was a short ride to the playing fields at Ella's school, despite Gazzy and Nudge arguing over music, even so, my nails were digging into my palm by the time we grumbled to a halt and I nearly crawled out the window, looking forward to fresh air in my face and instead…

"OHMYGODELLA!YOU'REHERE!WE'VEBEEN-" I was mowed over by screaming girls hugging me and I almost backhanded them all away when they stepped back with a jolt.

"Wait." A short, oriental girl looked up at me. "You are _not _Ella."

My eyes wide and panicked, but I managed a nod and a "No. I'm not."

"Ooh, sorry, but you sorta look like her, you must be her cousin!" I met the eyes of another tall, beach-blonde, tanned, blue eyed, classic surfer-type. "She talks about you a lot, I'm Celine." She stuck out a hand, grabbed my limp one and shook it. "Where is she?"

"Uhh… in the car?"

"Okay!" Then the two rushed around the side of the car and then I heard Ella ('Hey guys!') but there was still one left, looking at me.

"Hi." She muttered shyly. "Umm, I'm Belle, just wanted to apologize for that. You okay? You look really freaked."

"Yeah," I whispered, looking over her head at Fang. "No problem. I'm Max…"

"You gotta go, I understand." Belle, pale with even paler hair, stepped back with a small smile and walked around to Ella, now chatting with Celine and the oriental one.

Fang immediately took Belle's position, if a bit closer, and touched my hand lightly. He might as well have said 'you okay?' out loud. I nodded, taking in everything soundlessly. There were lots of other cars, kids running around the gravel parking, and a few grass fields. Nothing too threatening.

"It's natural," Fang muttered conversationally as we hopped the fence, leading the way toward where about ten other girls were tossing balls back and forth with similar uniforms to Ella. "I thought they were Erasers. They're 'retired.'"

I heard the scorn in his voice and knew that in those short words he meant that it was crazy to think Erasers might attack us, pull us out of the car dressed as innocent girls, they, after all, were all gone. But such is the way we were raised.

"Max!" Ella called, catching up to Fang and I with her friends to walk beside us. "Sorry about that, I haven't seen Mei, Celine and Belle in a really long time, but they're on the team, too." We stopped at the bleachers. Gazzy and Iggy clambered to the top, Gaz with some suspicious wires in tow, and Angel and Nudge were trying to help Total up to Iggy. They were trying to pull off the 'seeing eye dog' charade again. They were fine. I turned my attention to Ella and her friends and noticed that Fang's eyes hadn't stopped moving. Taking it _alllll_ in.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm Max." I smiled slightly. "And this is my…brother, Nick. Over there are Jeff, Krystal, Angela, and…hold on, let me go assist Zephyr." I turned my smile sickly sweet and ran over to the bleachers, jumping up to snatch a match out of Iggy's hand. He grinned, not abashed in the slightest.

"Please, guys." I begged. "Ella's really nervous, don't blow it."

"We-"

"And no bad jokes about 'blow it', Gaz." I chuckled, ruffling his hair then bounding back down to rescue Fang.

"Sorry 'bout that, oh, and Nick's mute." I clapped Fang's shoulder. "But he can nod and everything. And it's useless to ask his favorite color."

Mei, Celine, and Belle looked at me with strange expressions. I raised my eyebrows.

"Did you just jump onto the bleachers?" Mei breathed, her slanted eyes wide. "To the top?"

Did I? Crap. Fang rolled his eyes in my direction, then continued staring off.

"Back home, in New Hampshire, I do track."

"I do track," Celine breathed, looking at my legs. "And I wish I could do that."

"It's really competitive," I brushed it away. "And my dad used to do it, so I've been on the team or practicing as long as I can remember."

Fang snorted. I kicked him.

"Anyway, Ella, Coach wants us now." Belle announced, already walking away towards where the girls in uniforms were clustering around the coach. "But it was nice meeting you, Max, Fang." They waved as they hurried over to their coach, still laughing.

"Way to go." Fang said.

"Gazzy had a lighter!" I protested, turning back to the bleachers again, which were gathering people.

"God forbid."

"Exactly." Easily, we climbed up the steps to where Angel had convinced (in the non-creepy way) the others to join her in a game of Uno while we waited, so she waved to us and dealt us in. On her last shopping trip, mom had seen the unicorn themed cards and bought them for Angel, who now carried them with her everywhere, like Celeste a year ago. I'm pleased to inform you the Celeste is still much loved, but either stays in Angel's backpack or bed, depending on our sleeping status. Maybe because we're not on the run as much anymore, I don't know. Either way, Angel had Uno cards, and we were playing, and mom got a picture of all of us flaunting our unicorn cards.

I'm sooo gonna blackmail Iggy with that someday.

Angel won ten out of ten rounds before we kicked her out of the game (a winner's leave, as we called it) so then she watched us as:

Fang won twice,

Iggy won once,

Gazzy won four times,

Nudge, once, and myself, once. Nudge's problem is you can totally tell what cards she has just by her expressions, and sometimes she talks so much she'll give away what she has. ("The water balloons will be helpful, especially after this hand and sitting next to Iggy…") Ig reversed it so I got landed with four draw two's, multiple wild draw four's, and plenty of skips. Then Gazzy asked if they had bomb and artillery Uno cards, and was very disappointed when mom said the only other kind she had seen was Harry Potter. Why someone would want to put him on a card, I don't know. I've never read the books and only seen the fourth movie, but to me he seems some dorky kid in glasses… Don't tell Ella I said that, though. She'd be more effective at killing me than anyone else has been so far. Iggy asked if they had any beach bunny ones under his breath so only Fang and I could hear, but I praised whatever deity there may be that he laughed so I knew he was kidding.

"Guys, the game's starting!" Mom called, weaving her way through the people to reach us at the top. We all straightened and looked out at the field. There were now twelve girls holding sticks with Ella's uniform, and twelve in royal blue. They were all tensed and holding their sticks out toward the center of a circle in the middle of the field where a ref was positioning two of the girl's sticks into a little cross.

"Which one's Ella?" Iggy asked. "Angel's sending me a picture."

"Seventeen." Mom answered. "She's a defensive wing, there's another on the other side of the circle, goal-side. Then there are two attack wings across from the D-wings. They help out the offense and defense with getting the ball to where it's supposed to go-and they're starting! See the ref, how he's holding his hands? Three…two…one…"

A whistle blew, and immediately the girl's heaved their sticks upward, throwing the ball skyward and the eight people on the edge of the circle either spread in or dove for it.

And guess who successfully dove for it? Not that I'm bragging, but my half-sister who then sprinted out of the blue team crowd that looked like they were trying to chop her into mincemeat. She ran across the field, threw the ball to another one of her teammates who had it intercepted but then 'checked' the other girl and got it back, but then the ref blew the whistle because blue was off sides. Apparently some people have to stay back and man the fort, or goal.

Ella's team scored, and judging by the calls it was Mei who had done it. They scored three more times, and blue caught up fast. Even I could tell it was beginning to get dirty. The passes and catches were efficient enough, but every two minutes or so the game would pause at the referee's whistle and another team would get the ball.

I heard Angel giggle, and looked at her just after half time.

_The blue goalie isn't very nice, she called 'Celine' a bitch and so Mei was thinking of hitting her and just went up to talk to her, but the goalie is sooo much taller than Mei. _

_Did Mei back down?_ I asked, looking at the confrontation going on down on the field.

_It's still happening._

"Ladies!" The ref yelled, wiping sweat from his brow. "Let's get moving! Number six, why aren't you up on the restraining line?"

"She's harassing me!" The goalie barked right back. "Take her out! Yellow card her!"

The ref hurried down the field, but soon Mei was shouting about the profane language she had heard the goalie use and the mother in front of us clapped her hands over her kid's ears. Eventually, the goalie was taken off the field, Mei got back in her position, and the game resumed.

"JV girl's lacrosse player or Jackie Chan," I whispered to Fang. "Who would win?"

He contemplated for a moment, then after taking a sip from a water bottle said, "JV girl's lacrosse."

The Flock and mom clapped loudly as Ella caught a really bad pass and began to sprint up the sideline again, just in front of the bleachers, when a very large and burly girl sprinted over and began waving her stick in front of Ella's face, but she couldn't get her to slow down, so she did the logical thing. Logical if you grew up like me.

She shoved Ella.

She freaking _mowed _my half-sister over and sent her flying five feet through the air and into the first row of the bleachers. The ref blew the whistle, I stood, about to charge down there and show the bit- I mean, girl, what happens when you mess with super strong mutants. But Angel grabbed both my arm and mom's and said,

"Wait. Watch." She pulled Iggy, Fang, Gaz, Nudge, mom and I back into our seats and made us watch as Ella staggered to her feet. Even through her messed up hair, mask and red face, I could see her expression, and she was _infuriated. _

She limped right up to the girl, ignoring the coach who was pressing her with an ice pack and cries of 'are you alright?' and the usual, and Ella, five feet tall Ella jabbed her finger in the gut of the six foot tall girl.

"What the _hell _was that for you frickin' b-" But then she looked up at us, totally in hearing distance, and mom who had _quite _expression on her face and finished with. "Frickin' blowjob." Which was equally insulting and would have been amusing if I wasn't so angry with Miss Blowjob. Then the ref was yelling with 'purposeful harm against other players' and 'bad sportsmanship' and the blue coach was screaming that it was an accident and Ella's coach was trying the push Ella down onto the seats with a first aid kit while screaming at the other coach and Ella was rolling her eyes and kept repeating 'I'm fine, leave me alone, we have no subs, let me go back in!' And so ten minutes later, Blowjob was given a red card and sent home, the blue team looked pissed, and Ella was back on the field with the ball. After inconspicuously tripping Blowjob when she left the field.

She had told the coach she was fine, and the ref, and managed to convince them by running across the field and back, but I looked closely and noticed her favoring her right leg and the darker spot on one of her socks.

But the game was important to her, and God knows how many times I'd brushed away minor and major injuries, so I let it slide and watched her bring the ball down the field, pass, then wave the other wing to move past the restraining line (four players from each team must remain back at all times, three defense and one wing) and then she began to walk back and forth across the line, not passing it, and with a slight hitch to her step.

"How much time left in the game?" Iggy asked mom. "It doesn't sound like a good one."

"One minute."

So, to summarize, we won, but according to mom it was not a 'good game.' Ella walked slowly back to their little group of twelve players with Mei, Belle and Celine and joined in the very unenthusiastic cheer and then the high five row. It would all have been very quaint if the girls didn't try to dislocate each other's arms with each high five. Then we trooped down, waited for Ella to grab her stuff and wave to her friends, and she hurried over to us. I eyed her leg, she was still limping and she kept dragging one of her tall socks up. There was a dark red spot.

"Hey," she breathed, her breath in a rush.

"Rough game?" Iggy asked conversationally. "I vote we go hunt down that number sixteen-"

"Ella Martinez!" Mom glared, not daggers, but bombs at her daughter. I knew where I had gotten my wonderful disciplinary skills from, and the Flock immediately began to melt away from mother and daughter to spread out a bit. We were all still walking back to the car, Ella refusing any of our help to walk but handing me her bag and stick.

"Uh huh?"

"I heard what you said to that girl back there, and it's not that I don't understand, I'm going to take a look at that leg when you get home, but haven't I told you that language is inappropriate?"

"Yep." Mused Ella as she buckled Angel in and heaved herself into the front seat. "But you know what else you told me?"

Mom sighed heavily as if she knew what was coming. "What?"

"Not to lie."

I snickered, and could see my winged buddies trying to hold back the smiles creeping up. Even Fang.

"Maximum Ride!"

Crap. I looked out the window and rolled it down, trying to eense away from the bunt of mom's furious gaze glaring at me from the rearview mirror. Fang nudged my knee as if to say 'nice going' with a slight sarcastic tone. Yes, not only can I know what Fang means, but also whether he's being sarcastic or not, too.

"Uh huh?" I mimicked Ella's tone.

"Please tell me you don't use that language."

Fang shoved my knee again. I shoved him right back as if to tell him 'stop rubbing it in already!'

"Umm…" I breathed. "Not generally, you know, but I'll admit quite a few whitecoats and Erasers have known the bunt of my language use."

Now it was Ella's turn to laugh as mom sighed again and leaned back in her seat. She dropped it, just reaching out to pat Ella's knee. A 'pick your battles' moment.

"Is girl's lacrosse always that mean?" Angel asked, running her fingers through Total's fur. "I thought guys was."

"Guys lacrosse is for wussies who need protection for the same amount of beating that a girl would get." Ella laughed again. "It's not mean, really, just really competitive. Especially because the old captain on that team broke her leg at a game with us and hasn't been able to run properly since, though that's more the doctor's fault that ours."

"You girls don't get tackled." Gaz pointed out from the back. "Guys do."

"In boy's lacrosse," Ella explained, wincing as we went over a pothole. Subconsciously I reached for the door handle. "You expect to get tackled, and it just wastes time and ends up harder to get the ball. In girl's, people come up with dirty tricks to do the same damage, and as you saw, rules don't stop anyone from acting." With her words, I laughed again, and even Fang managed a sort-of smile.


	19. Don't Leave Me Hanging

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Rainie16-yes, it can be a bit hazardous, though I've never been thrown five feet… yet. Thanks for the review! **

_A Midsummer's Day's Happenings_

_Director: Yours featherly_

_Cast: Angel, the Gasman, Nudge, Iggy, Fang, myself, Akila, Total, Ella, Dr. M, Magnolia_

_Stage Directions:_

_Angel and Gazzy: Off exploring._

_Nudge: Looking through Ella's fashion magazines while listening to Ella's iPod in the corner of Ella's room. So long as she was quiet. _

_Total: Trying to teach Akila how to eat without getting food on her fur. _

_Akila: See above._

_Magnolia: Finally showed up and taking advantage of Total not being inside, now curled up at the bottom of Ella's bed. _

_Iggy: Sitting on Ella's bed near the footboard-thing and fingering her quilt, feeling colors. _

_Fang: Seated next to me, both of us also on Ella's bed._

_Ella: Staring out her bedroom window as mom tried to convince her to let her look at her leg. _

"Mom, really. I played the rest of the game!" Ella protested, leaning back onto her pillows. "I'm _fine._"

"You know," Iggy said, not taking his sightless eyes off of the quilt. "I heard that 'fine' is actually an pneumonic device for 'f-d up, in denial, not okay, and I forget e… Ooh, lime green!"

"Thanks a ton, Ig." Ella glared at him, but the effect was obviously lost. Then she looked again at mom, standing in the already crowded room with her hands on her hips.

"I'm just asking to look, El!"

"I'm just asking you to accept my word that I am _alright. _No thanks to the Jolly Blue Giant." My sister continued, exasperated. "And I don't think that there are any pneumonic devices for 'alright', so there!"

_Aching, leaden, stuck in a Rut, in denial, getting… dead, hemorrhage, totally confused._

Okay, so it wasn't Robert Frost, but it'd have to do.

Mom looked at Ella, concerned, but turned and left the room quietly.

"I'm going to make cookies!" She called from the stairs. Immediately, even Nudge who was absorbed in her magazine and music brightened. "So you cool teens just do your teenager things. Drugs, alcohol…" Mom's voice trailed away as she continued to the kitchen. "I've even got some good, sharp knives down here if you feel the need to cut yourselves!"

We laughed, looking at each other. Well, minus Iggy who didn't look, and Fang who just smirked. See, my mom's just so great. She can joke about stuff like that 'cause she trusts us and knows we'd never lapse into those bad habits. The Flock didn't really need any extra help cutting ourselves, what with our history and everything…

"Find any cool colors, Iggy?" Ella asked, stripping off her socks now that mom had left. Ig nodded, entranced.

"There's this one right here, sort of smoky-blue, like rain clouds, and then this one fades from yellow to orange… But neither are as neat as this red. Same color as the blood on your leg."

"What-"

"We can smell it." Fang mused, still looking out the window. "Ig'll look at it."

"How-"

"Avian, remember?" I reminded her with a grin, watching Iggy as he stiffened with Fang's comment. But not because of the 'look' part, he's not that sensitive.

"Technically," he muttered, "I can't look at it."

"You can feel it though, determine what she needs." I reprimanded him, twirling a piece of hair around a finger. I could now see the blood dripping down her leg, oozing into a dark red splotch. The scrape didn't look deep, but she'd have to watch it and find a large band-aid.

"It's fine, Iggy." Said Ella, sounding slightly uncomfortable. "I think a band-aid's all I need."

Nudge _and _Angel were giving her lessons. Carefully, she got up from the large bed and limped over to her closet where she began to rifle through it.

"You have band-aids in your closet?" I asked her, smiling slightly. I watched her chuck a dog toy to the other side of the room.

"I have _everything _in my closet. Want a penknife?"

Fang and I watched as she began to pull random junk and pile it next to her. Seriously, and I thought that _I _was unorganized. Soon there was a rather large pile of shoes, dust, clothes, swimsuit pieces, drawings, and photos in somehow still whole frames… A horseshoe.

"It doesn't really work if it's buried." Fang pointed out, a hint of a smile on his face.

"What doesn't work?" Ella turned to look at him, holding a pink watch. "This? Yeah, I threw it in here when I was five because of that. I _hated _the color pink, but my aunt just didn't get it…"

"The horseshoe. I totally get your pink thing." Fang continued, and snuck a quick glance at me. I only noticed because I had been sneaking a quick glance at him, and so I was surprised to suddenly realize his dark eyes were so very close to mine…

"You're superstitious?" Ella's voice jolted me back to earth, and I quickly looked away, blushing, but then realized that Fang's arm was wrapped around my shoulders. I smiled at the realization. Luckily Iggy couldn't see and Ella was still looking for a band-aid because they would have realized this much sooner than I, and would be teasing. Not that I can't handle it, or tease better than them, but it's irritating.

"Uhh, no." Fang sounded breathless in my ear. Apparently Ella had caught him off guard, too. I blinked slowly and leaned toward him. "I was kidding."

Ella laughed, sounding very much like mom then. "I should have got that. Wow. Well, I found it!"

"Success!" Iggy cheered, finally leaning back from the quilt to look in Ella's general direction. "What color are your walls?"

"Three are brown," Ella said slowly, grinning even as she began to peel the bandage apart. "It's a log cabin. The other's green, same shade as the green on the quilt."

"So your room has a color scheme?" He asked. "All based on the quilt?"

"Yep." Ella nodded, using a disinfectant wipe (where'd she find that???) to clear the dried blood away and then covering the scrape with the large band-aid. Even from sitting on her bed, I could see it was only shallow. But she had to be damn sore. I mean, I saw her freaking _fly_ and I'm the one with wings. "My grandma made it for me, on my dad's side. You're so lucky you haven't met mom's family, Max."

I raised my eyebrows as Ella stood and began to hobble over to the bed.

"Why?"

"Her mom's in jail for pushing drugs on kids, her dad's dead for stealing the drug's her mom pushed, her sister was decent, according to her, but she ran away to go to college. They stay in touch through postcards." Ella was ticking them off on her fingers, leaning back on the bed, dividing it in half between Iggy and Fang and I.

"Oh, then there's 'Barnicle Bob' as we call him, our uncle. His lifelong dream was to become a fisherman off the Alaskan coast."

"Did he achieve this lifelong dream?" I giggled. Yes, I know it's my biological family we're talking about, but Ella was laughing as soon as she mentioned our uncle's name. Plus, biological is totally different from a real family. A real one doesn't have to be biological, just look at all the adopted kids in the world.

"No, sadly." My sister sighed theatrically, making Magnolia woof quietly. "He's a fisherman off the Florida coast. None of the crews in Alaska thought he was professional enough."

"I didn't know fishing was a professional job." Iggy laughed. "Nowadays, at least. Isn't everyone either a doctor or a teacher or a bigwig who wants us to go to school?"

"Not Barnicle Bob." Fang said in that serious tone of his, making us all laugh loud enough for Nudge to look up, shake her head, then turn back to trying to pick her way through an article about Vanessa Carlton. Her reading improved after her time at the Day and Night School, and she was now not the fastest or best at it, but she could spell better and get her way through a magazine.

_See? _I jumped, letting out a little peep of surprise as the Voice made yet another unannounced visit. _School isn't half-bad._

_Have _you _ever been to school? _I snarled back, ignoring the looks I was receiving from Iggy and Ella and trying to concentrate on Fang rubbing circles between my shoulder blades.

The Voice didn't reply. Score one for Max.

"Damn Voice." I muttered, my mood totally going downhill after my little life lesson encounter.

"What'd it do?" Ella asked curiously. I rolled my eyes.

"Besides exist?" I asked, it was rhetorical, so I continued. "Trying to lecture me on how wonderful education is."

"Is it gone?" Fang questioned, concerned. I nodded.

"I asked it if it had ever been to school. It hasn't replied. Granted," I continued, rolling over on my back to look at the ceiling where it appeared Ella had drawn stars. It must have been ages ago, the paint was a bit faded and the stars were a bit messy, but it was a memory all the same. "Now it'll probably coming bursting back with 'gotcha, sucker! I'm here to make your life miserable!' But it will be in some fortune cookie sentence like," I began to talk in a mystical bogus fortuneteller tone. "'Sucker, you are. When the banana peels, fly's will come.'"

"Fly's will come?" Fang, actually sounding confused. I snickered.

"Exactly. Then I will ask, what the hell are you on, Voice? And it will think, 'crack, of course. You thing heroin would make me go this crazy?' but it never answers my questions directly, so it'd be like, 'yes, fly's will come.'"

"Has it ever been helpful?"

I closed my eyes and answered Ella's question grudgingly. "Once in a blue moon."

"It needs to make up for the brain attacks, still." Said Fang in the soft way of his.

"And sending us into a sewer." Iggy complained. "Ella, take my word for it. If a voice in your head ever tells you to go into New York City's pipes, ignore it and run."

"You can't run from a voice in your head. I would know."

Fang sighed, a 'tell me about it' sigh. I wondered if he was thinking of the day when I had tried to cut the chip out myself, and my suspicions were confirmed when he closed his eyes, wincing.

"And it brought us to the Institute. We wouldn't have Total without it, or found our parents."

"Exactly." And with Iggy's bitter tone I remembered his terrible encounters with said parental units.

"Total's amusing." Fang admitted, but he sounded like it was amusing to laugh at Total's antics and whatnot. Which it was.

"When did you find out he could talk?"

I shuddered to get the point across. "At the Annemeister's house. Nudge thought it was Tara when we first got there, from the movie."

"Who's Anne?"

"Total bitch."

"Fang!" Ella clasped her hands over her mouth. "Go wash your mouth out young man! And while you're at it…" But my sister had collapsed into giggles. Iggy and I were laughing again, Fang's eyebrows were raised in that way of his where he doesn't want to be amused, but is anyway.

"You'll see her if there are any videos from recently." Iggy pointed out. "And ter Borcht. You can see us totally diss him… Good times."

"Is he dead?" I asked seriously. "I always forget… These whitecoats are just so disposable!"

"Not yet." You guessed it, Fang, said in that creepy way of his. I wish I could master that little trick, but even Gaz can't get it right. You can mimic the sound, but not the vibe, I guess. Fang's got this chill that comes off of his words sometimes that can freeze water.

"How about Anne?"

"Status questionable." Iggy bit a fingernail absently. "The director?"

"The tortoise." I laughed again. "She's alive if no one killed her."

My words were greeted with silence. Then Ella looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Whaat?"

"Tortoise?" Ig asked. "Did I hear you right?"

"Shell?"

Only Fang had guessed right. I grinned, and struggled to sit up for a second before turning to the three.

"Funny story actually." I began. "So when Angel, Nudge, Total and I were in Germany in that castle, main branch of Itex in Europe." I explained for Ella. She knew most of the names now, Itex and there plans and stuff, but they couldn't fill her in on everything when 'they' didn't even know everything. "When the fight broke out, thanks to faithful bloggers, Nudge and I grabbed Psychotic Bitch numero uno and flew her a good five hundred feet up. She was awful heavy, and so it was revealed that, drum roll please," I hesitated. I don't know why it struck me as so hilarious, there were plenty of mutants thanks to the School and company, but her being, like, a million and the head of it all? Tres amusante.

"She's part tortoise!" I exclaimed. "She's like, two hundred or something! No shell, though. She just has this weird pattern on her face when you look really close."

"Did you drop her?" Ella breathed, her eyes wide. Apparently she was still hanging on how high that I said Nudge and I had carried her to.

"Yep."

"But we caught her, and she was screaming and everything because she's crazy, but we still caught her with a good two hundred feet to go, and then she was all twitchy." I hadn't realized Nudge had been listening, but laughed out loud when I saw her impression. She jerked her should back and forth and moved her chin sideways every other time. "Then," of course she had to continue, but I was glad for it even as she jumped on the already over crowded bed. "We got to some internet café and we used a webcam to talk to the boys and we read all the blog posts between when we had separated and then and it was pretty cool! So then we decided where to meet and we flew back to America and met up with the guys and then we flew here and it was all good because Max had found _both_ her families and we had Mexican food and cookies!"

"Was that all in one breath?" Fang looked at her, eyes light. Nudge adores Fang, it's kind of cute. If she went to a normal school and they asked her who her hero was, she'd say 'Fang!' but then she'd continue of why even though they hadn't even asked the question yet. Then she'd somehow end up taking about burritos or something. And it's not like anyone, even Fang can resist Nudge. He's like her older brother. Anyway, touchy-feely-irritating part over now. I'm getting better with the whole emotions thing, but let's not rush it, shall we?

"'Least she's not part goldfish," Iggy said, all serious.

"That'd suck." I agreed, forgetting for a moment, yet again, that he couldn't see my nod.

"That actually happens?" Ella asked, horrified. Her eyes were as wide as plates. "Goldfish? Tortoises?"

"Avians, too. Surprise, I know."

"I'm serious, Fang!"

Fang rolled his eyes, glancing at Ella, who was trying to hold back a smile.

"I remember the cheetah girl." Iggy got up from the bed and began running his fingers over the wall and paintings, exploring the new colors. "She was in the same room as us for a few days. Max and I talked to her, Fang ignored everyone but Max so it sort of defeats the purpose to point it out in this situation…" He continued to reminisce. I watched him walk around with a sort of bittersweet feeling in my gut.

He had been able to see, once upon a dream. He'd had eyes the color of emeralds, though I hadn't known that then. Now they were the grey of rainclouds. Or kitten fluff. And then Fang, who wouldn't talk to anyone but me, and even that lapsed as time went on at the School.

Bittersweet turns to red-hot anger pretty darn quick.

"Anyway," Iggy continued talking quietly. "She had spots starting from her middle finger all the way up to her shoulder. Then she had a ton of freckle-like spots on her face, and her legs. She had a tail, I think."

"Yeah." Fang agreed. "She hit me with it."

"They didn't like each other much." I told Ella, laughing. "She'd always find reason to bother him, and he'd do it back. I stopped defending him after a while."

"Was she fast?"

"Hell yeah." Iggy turned his head to put his sightless eyes on my sister. "I hope there's a video of it, one time we were fighting. All four of us, and she caught one of them up in a whirlwind-it was so cool."

I remembered that, too. Fang and I were polishing off a mutant, not Eraser was all I recalled, and Iggy was plucking the legs off of a giant spider-thing.

"What was her name?" I asked, brow furrowed as I tried to remember. "Spots?"

"Nah, Stripes." Fang corrected me. "She hated all her spots."

"That's right." I smiled slightly. Stripes-she was always looking on the bright side. In a way. When the whitecoats took her for testing and cut chunks of her tail off, she'd come back looking like crap and say she was fine but "why couldn't they have taken some of my spots off instead?"

"What happened to her?" Ella asked hesitantly, brushing her hair back into a loose ponytail. She had managed to comb out the tangles and dirt from the game, and now looked somewhat normal. Aside from her favoring her left side. I bet her ribs were hurting-mine hurt and I had just _watched _it happen.

Fang shrugged.

"Dunno." I said. "She was taken away to live with other cat mixes, they thought she might try to eat Fang, since they took such on obvious dislike to each other."

Iggy snorted, sitting down where he stood.

"Eat _Fang?_"

"She was part cat, he's part bird." Nudge pointed out, hooking up the iPod to a little speaker system and turning the volume on low. "I mean, it'd make a bit of sense. But not much. I wasn't there, obviously, but they're both more human than animal, and Fang doesn't eat worms-"

"Not according to Gozen." Iggy pointed out. "Wait-that was birdseed."

"God no!" I giggled. "Please don't bring that up!"

But the damage had been done, and Ella was left staring in bemusement as Nudge, Fang, Iggy and I collapsed in laughter.

"Nightcrawlers!" Fang choked out. "My favorite! How'd you know?"

Nudge fell to her knees, pounding the floor in laughter. Ella began to crack with Fang's comment, and fell onto my shoulder for support. Granted, I was hanging onto Fang even as Iggy began to chirp.

"_Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo!_ Or, crap. It's _chicka-dee-dee-dee_, isn't it?"

"You will not find the rest of the evening funny." Fang snorted, trying and failing miserably to mimic Gozen.

"I don't even want to know." Ella gasped, holding her side as her laughter quieted into hysterics. Finally, we managed to quiet, and tears of mirth streaked Nudge's face.

"Stripes did only eat birds, though." Fang sighed, surprising us as he was the first to talk over the low music.

"Hmm?" I asked, looking out the window as a heavy wind shook tree branches in the forest. A bird emerged, cawing loudly.

"Birds. Garden birds." He explained with a 'duh, remember now?' tone. "Raptors. Couldn't digest human food."

"Oh yeah." Iggy breathed. "And mice. Voles. Other small rodents."

"Rabbits," I added. "She loved rabbit."

"When she was fed."

"When _any _of us were fed."

Ella asked if she ate it raw and pulled a face when Iggy confirmed that she did. I sighed again, getting a look from Fang even as he pulled me closer and left his arms wrapped around me. Eating raw meat was like a carousel ride for the School, but I was almost glad Ella was disgusted by the prospect of a part human eating raw meat. She was _normal _that way. Normal meaning she wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder and jumping when a balloon popped or not shuddering when she thought of being kidnapped. The Flock and I were used to it.

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend._

_Somewhre along in the bitterness._

_I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life…_

Depressing thoughts. Depressing song. Quelle coincidence.

"Nudge?" I asked. "Wanna change the song?"

"No problemo." She chirped, rolling off the bed and scrambling over to the stereo. "Any requests, I present to you: 30 Seconds to Mars, AC/DC, Adele, Aerosmith, All-American Rejects, Augustana, Avril Lavigne, Beyonce, Blue October, Bob Marley, Bon Jovi, Boys Like Girls, Breaking Benjamin, Carrie Underwood, Celtic Women, Colbie Calliat, Cute Is What We Aim For, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, Devo, Disney, Dixie Chicks, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Enya, Erin McCarley, Fall Out Boy, Flyleaf, Fountains of Wayne, The Fray, Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Guns 'n' Roses, Harmful If Swallowed, Howard Shore," Ella had a hell of a lot of music. But I continued to listen; at least there were options. I recognized a few names, some were Fang's favorites, and others mine. Or I had heard Gazzy complaining about them, the Dixie Chicks, for example.

"Kate Voegele, the Killers, KT Tunstall, Led Zeppelin, Linkin Park, Lillix, Mariah Carey, the Mask, Mayday Parade, Metro Station, Michael Jackson, though isn't he a pedafile?"

"I don't know." Ella sniffed. "But the Jackson 5 was my mom's first CD ever, and he had some good music!"

"If you say so," Nudge muttered, "I've never actually heard him. Anyway-"

"There's more?" Iggy sounded shocked. "You could open a music store!"

Ella ignored this comment, but Fang nodded in agreement.

"It'd be a great store, though." He commented. Silencing us with a look, Nudge continued.

"Motion City Soundtrack, My Chemical Romance, Nelly Furtado, Nickelback, Off The Wall, Orla Fallon, Paramore, Pink Floyd, P!NK, Queen, Rascal Flatts, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Rolling Stones, Search the City, Secondhand Serenade, Simple Plan, Skillet, Superchick-I love Superchick!-, Taylor Swift, Three Days Grace, The Ting Ting's, Tokio Hotel, Trapt, U2, Vanessa Carlton, various artists, The Veronicas, We The Kings, ahh, no X's. If anyone had X music it would be you, Ella." Nudge glanced through her bangs at Ella, still sitting on the bed.

"Any Y or Z artists?" I asked. "You can't just stop and leave me hanging at X."

"Yellowcard, and Ziggy Marley! Now you have plenty to choose from, Max, and they can't _all _be depressing!"

"Of course they can't, I have Disney music." Ella said shortly. "Plus have you ever heard a depressing song by Lillix? Granted, I've only heard one, but it's pretty upbeat. Don't answer that, Nudge." Ella laughed, leaning back to sit on some pillows.

"I can't remember half of them." I groaned. "Why don't you go through them again?"

It took Nudge a second, but then she raised her eyebrows. "You're kidding, right?"

"Yes. Fang," I looked up at him, still in his arms. "Any help?"

He turned his head to also glance out the window, and though he kept his eyes there, I felt one of his hands rise to twirl a piece of my hair around his finger.

"Goo Goo Dolls. Yellowcard. The Fray-but you want something more upbeat. Course you could just go with Disney…"

"No. Keep talking."

He sighed heavily, but continued softly. "Tokio Hotel. My Chemical Romance. Skillet. Search the City. Wait-Nudge, is there Clocks and Timepieces?"

"By Search the City?"

"Yep." There was a little clicky noise as Nudge scrolled through each artist before getting to S, then Search the City.

"There's 'To The Moon For All I Care' and 'The Rescue' but nothing to do with clocks."

I felt, rather than heard Fang sigh. "Try Tokio Hotel, then."

More clicky noises. Ella turned to scribble Fang's song down on a scrap of paper on a little desk next to her bed. They had taken to suggesting songs to each other on occasion. Fang had an account on on his computer that was nearly bursting.

"Monsoon, Schrei, Scream, and Ready, Set, Go! Is that what you want? On the album cover they look a bit bizarre. Especially the guy with big hair-"

"Lead singer." Fang interrupted. "And yes, thanks. Play the last one."

"Okay!" Said Nudge, pressing 'play' before flopping back down on the bed. "I've never heard them before, even of them before, but I guess-"

"Nudge!" Iggy barked. "Even I can't hear it right now!" And I was a bit grateful as Nudge shut her mouth and started the song over before turning it up. I noticed Ella's wide smile, showing she liked the song, and I could tell Fang was excited to show it to the rest of us even though no one else could.

It started out with some drumming, then a masculine voice. Fang began to bob his head slightly with the beat.

_We learned to live, and then, our freedom came to an end._

I listened carefully. Nudge turned it up a bit more, right on the downbeat.

_Ready, set, go it's time to run! _

_The sky is changing, we are one. _

_Together we can make it _

_While the world is crashing down, don't you turn around._

I decided I liked this song very much.

"Great lyrics." Iggy pointed out, drumming his fingers. "Pretty peppy."

"Isn't it, though?" Ella grinned in contentment. "I don't know many people who've heard of some of my music unless I tell them."

"_I promise you right now,_

_I'll never let you down…" _Fang sang quietly in my ear along with the music. I laughed in sheer happiness. And for a while, anyway, I managed to forget about the school as I sat, listening to music and laughing in the company of some of the best people in the world.

"_Together we can make it as the world is crashing down…"_

Seriously? 'Cause right then I nearly jumped out the window as a high pitched keening ricocheted around the house.


	20. Almost There

**-EDIT-so, in case you guys aren't aware by now, I've been editing some earlier chapters and fixing a few minor spelling/grammar issues and adding some stuff to fit in with the story LATER. So I hope you enjoy the improved version. Thanks, -Ivyflightislistening, March 12, 2011**

**CHAPTER TWENTY! WHO'S PSYCHED? Maybe you are, maybe you aren't, but right now you want me to shut up and hurry on so you can find out what the wailing noise is and if the Flock are about to face imminent death. Well, Mo figured out that 'keening' actually is sort of a sound people make when someone's died… So I guess it could work, but so would 'wailing' or 'shrieking.' Just so everyone knows. Anyway, reviewers… **

** Jamtd-sorry about the cliffie! I meant to update right after, but I didn't get to. Thank you!**

**MaxRideRox-thanks for the review!**

** Samz-much obliged! Ha, I still love that. Yes, I thought maybe they should have some older kid time, minus the adorable eight and seven year old. Plus, as you'll find out, they were a bit busy…**

**Mo-thanks for the definition, there's gonna be a few more home videos soon. None of which are pleasant, so look forward to that ;) And yes, I love that song, and thought it'd totally fit!**

** Kara Nicole-it would be problematic if you died, so just hold on until I finish this chapter, k?**

** Thank you soooo much Destiny!**

** Kariepaige08-yes, it was sorta sinister. I guess you'll find out as soon as I'm done here, but thank you! **

"Relax! Guys!" Ella held her hands out in the classic 'calm down' gesture. She was looking at us with a worried expression, her eyebrows creased but she seemed firm all the same.

"It's the fire alarm." She assured us. "Now, this is the part that we learn in school where we all troop downstairs and ask mom what the heck she burned, and then we feed you chocolate chip cookies to calm you down and get your eyes back in their sockets." Ella continued to talk to us in a low voice, and I managed to crack a smile with what she said, but my heart was still racing and I found my eyes darting around wildly.

"What do you mean?" Iggy breathed, holding his hands over his ears. Now that I noticed, the wailing sound was killing my own eardrums, and I was tempted to do the same. I didn't, though. That'd be giving in to the stupid fire alarm. Yes I get into fights with inanimate objects, so pipe down.

"Your mom really did burn something, I think." Nudge sniffed, her mocha nose crinkled. "I can smell cookies, but there's also something like, cheese, maybe?"

"Grilled cheese." Ella confirmed, meeting my eyes and blinking slowly. It was a reassuring gesture, something I often did to calm down. I hadn't realized Ella did it, too. It was a nice reassurance that I shared non-bird relatives.

"Can we go down?" Iggy asked. "And break all the alarms along the way?"

"I have earplugs in my closet."

"I don't want to touch _anything _in your closet." Iggy managed to choke out a laugh and head out the door, already familiar with his surroundings. Nudge, then Ella, and Fang and myself closely followed him out the door and down the hall. The wailing sound increased as we hurried toward the kitchen, where mom was throwing the windows open and setting up a fan to blow some of the grey smoke rising from the stove away. Finally, and I do mean _finally_ because my ears were about to break and I wanted to go and personally kill the people who installed fire alarms, mom got them to turn off.

"Sorry everyone." She laughed and wiped some sweat from her brow. We nodded mutely even as Ella walked over to a frying pan on the stove and poked a brownish-black lump. With her touch, a bit of faded yellow spooged out from a hole in the side.

"It's _grilled _cheese, mom." Ella smiled at her mother, letting her know she was joking. "Not _burned _cheese. Seriously, this is worthy of Max's cooking."

I chose to ignore that jab and sank down into a chair, trying to dismiss the ringing in my ears.

"Did you save the cookies?" Nudge asked, her voice sounding slightly off. I shook my head again and blinked a few times before my head cleared. "I mean," she continued. "They're obviously the priority in a situation like this."

"Of course I did. How can you even ask that?" Mom clasped her hand to her heart, faking offence, but then she laughed again and grabbed the frying pan and began to scrub it in the sink. "I made extras, too. I thought that perhaps we should watch a few more videos today. Jeb was over the other day for a while when you guys were at Bertucci's. He told me there were a few we could skip over." She paused, shifting to the other foot while thinking. "Mostly needle ones, I think. He said there was nothing about saving the world when you were all getting stuck with mercury."

Mom tried to sound casual, but I didn't need to be Iggy to hear her voice crack.

"Can we have a water balloon fight later?" Iggy asked innocently. I wished he could see my appreciative look, so instead I just nudged his foot. He bobbed his head slightly with a small smile.

"Sure." Mom choked out a laugh. "We have plenty of balloons."

"From my birthday party like, four years ago?"

"They should still work." Ah well, it was good enough for me. Besides, I looked at the thermometer on one of the windows and it already read 90 degrees. Yeah. Whoohoo. Whoopee. Other sounds of excitement.

Not. I love the warm weather, trust me. I do not love being fryalated within moments of stepping outside.

Anyway, mom continued talking, sounding a bit better now. "So, that narrows us down a few videos, but I thought we might be able to get through two today."

"Sounds good." I nodded, touching Fang's arms briefly. His eyes flashed my way, and he blinked once. I smiled. "Cookies as sustenance?"

"Of course. Does anyone know when Angel and Gazzy will be back? They took Akila on a walk."

"Now." Iggy sighed. "They're at the front door. I'd guess Angel heard us thinking."

That will never stop sounding weird.

Anyway. Moving on. Angel and Gazzy came bursting through the door .6 seconds after Iggy said they had returned, but they were both jabbering away so quickly it was hard to figure out what they were saying.

"Ohmygosh,Max!" Angel came running and flew onto my lap. "We were outside-"

"And this huge-"

"It was soo cool!"

"But kinda-"

"Creepy-"

"Then we-"

"Huge explosion, Ig!"

"Great-"

"Hold it!" Mom held her hands up and raised her voice, somehow magnifying it around the cramped kitchen. However, she was smiling.

"Slowly now, guys." Ella giggled. "You almost pulled a Nudge."

Gazzy laughed, his blue eyes wide with excitement as he turned to me.

"Well, it was so cool, Max! I swear, I didn't _mean_ to blow it up, though." My eyes narrowed slightly, but he continued bravely. "Seriously. Ask Ang. We were walking Akila-you know? And so then a car came down the road but we were a few miles away," only Angel and Gazzy would mention that they, a seven and eight year old were 'a few miles away' so casually. I almost laughed, but 'I didn't mean to blow it up' didn't really allow me to relax.

"So I told him to jump in the bushes." Angel said excitedly, bouncing up and down on my lap. "'Cause I didn't know who it was and I wanted to be careful, like you're always telling us."

"So we did, but then when the car passed, Akila took after it!" Gazzy threw his arms out for effect, I'll admit it. He was just so darned cute. "And neither of us could catch her and she wouldn't listen to Angel-"

"Akila said the driver had a ranch."

"We followed her and it wasn't hard to sneak into the person's yard 'cause it was this huge farm, and even though he didn't have much of a lawn, there was a lawn mower sitting by the mailbox." If it was possible, Gaz seemed even more excited. The bad part was coming, I could tell. The lawn mower seemed promising, but I tried to keep a straight face even as Iggy kept pressing Gazzy to tell more.

"But Akila went into the barn!" Angel exclaimed, shaking her head back and forth, making her blonde curls bounce. "She was really thirsty, and there was water in there, so I followed, but the farmer thought he saw something moving out there, I heard him think 'that's weird' and then he hurried out. So Akila and I hid, just like you taught me, Max," Angel sounded so proud of herself. I was, too. Even if it hadn't been very dangerous it sounded like she had kept her head. "But he kept looking around and I was too scared to convince him to leave and I couldn't move." She shuddered. "I was sort of stuck between Akila and a stall and I was worried he was an Eraser." She closed her eyes, carefully, I rubbed her back soothingly.

"But Gazzy helped me out-" She whispered.

"AND THE EXPLOSION WAS ENORMOUS!" He crowed, jumping to his feet and dancing his way around the kitchen. I don't know how, we were all crammed into it, minus the dogs. "I set up a fuse for the gas tank of the lawn mower, which was luckily full because he had no grass to mow, and then there was a quick 'boom!'" Gazzy impersonated it to perfection, if a bit quieter. I winced. Lying low just never seemed to work. "And then an after-boom, and it lit a bit of brush on fire, but the guy took care of that quickly, and then Angel and I ran away with Akila. So, yeah."

There was dead silence. Then,

"You are the MAN!" Iggy whooped, high-fiving his partner in crime. Gazzy smiled at me innocently over his shoulder.

"It's okay, Max. He even made it look like an accident-"

"An accident that his lawn mower _blew up?_"

"Well," Angel paused, looking down. "Yeah."

I shot Fang a glance. _A little help here? _He sighed heavily.

"Self-defense." He muttered. "They didn't do anything wrong."

"Except blow up a lawn mower." I sighed, too. But he was right, I'd told Gaz he could blow something up in 'self defense only' circumstances. It hadn't been the worst situation, but it sure as heck could have been.

"Fine." I told them. "Good job, you're off the hook. Now, are we gonna go watch a movie or not?"

"I'll get the cookies." Mom sounded tired. I felt it, too, at the prospect of watching more films from the black lagoon. "Then later I'll make pizza or something for lunch."

"And a water balloon fight?" Gazzy asked hopefully, allowing Iggy to give him a piggyback ride to the living room. "That's what Angel said."

"Yep." I nodded, ignoring the fruit basket, my hunger suddenly forgotten. Except for cookies. Holding Fang's hand lightly, we walked in a line through the narrow hall until it widened into the room. Quietly, we sank down in our usual spot and waited for Ella to plug the video in.

One small click later and there we were. Time had obviously passed but Fang and I were still the small, scrawny little mutants as always. We were huddled in our cages. I grabbed the fourteen year old's hand as I realized he and a whitecoat and were in the middle of another shouting match.

"Jeb said this had taken place about two months later. You guys spent the rest of the time healing from previous injuries and…testing."

Fang and I shuddered.

"WHY DO YOU EVEN BOTHER?" The whitecoat screamed, spit hurtling from his mouth and spewing all over Fang's cage and face. The great thing was, Fang didn't say anything, just kept this expression on his face, clear in the camera. His eyebrows were raised skeptically and his mouth was almost quirked into an irritating smile. The bored one that clearly said 'I don't care what you say.'

"YOU'RE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF MUTANT SPAWN!" He continued, but before he could say anything else, Fang yawned.

"That'd explain why you need me to carry out tests." His voice was slightly high, he was still four, but audible all the same.

"WHAT?" The whitecoat yelled, rattling the bars of his cage. "If you actually think you mean something, you're dumber than I thought!"

"That makes two of us." Fang examined his bitten fingernails carefully in his cage, giving the picture of relaxation. But both of me, the four year old and the one ten years later could see the tense set of his shoulders, how he was blinking a little too often. I began to rub circles on Fang's hand carefully and rested my other hand casually on his knee. An 'I'm still here' gesture. He twitched his foot once as if to say 'I know.'

Infuriated, the man shrieked in rage and grabbed Fang's cage. Fang scurried to the back immediately, tensing into a crouch. Ready to spring and kill. I looked on, my eyes wide as saucers. The thing is, Fang and the cage were so light, even the whitecoat, and they aren't known for their strength, could lift it and hurl it off the shelf.

Fang didn't yell; make any sound as he tumbled through the air, even as I growled, banging on my bars.

"Leave him alone!" I snarled, leaning forward. You could see my eyes darting around, judging the room.

"You're going to jump." Fang murmured into my ear. I nodded.

"Just watch."

As soon as the whitecoat kicked Fang's cage again, making it slide with an ear-piercing wail across the floor, and positioned himself just in front of me, I slammed forward with all my might and spilled off the shelf, cage and all. I landed just where I meant to, my cage and direct weight slamming onto the whitecoat's head.

"Take that you bastard." I growled into his ear as he lay sprawled on his back with me on top. I didn't look at my mom. Fang nearly smiled next to me and bumped my shoulder with his. A thank you. My mouth twitched into an almost smile, just for him.

"You okay, Fang?" I asked onscreen, turning to look at him in the corner. He nodded and gestured to the whitecoat with his head.

"He's out for the count." I continued. "What now?"

"Key. Before Silverman returns."

You could directly see my roll my eyes, but I poked my spidery fingers through the wire netting and began to search his pockets. After a few moments of search, my tongue tip sticking partway out of my mouth as I concentrated, I managed to recover something cold and shiny.

"Is this it?" I knocked my cage off of the whitecoat and bumped it over to Fang who met me halfway. He didn't make any sign of confirmation, other than to slip it up to his lock, jam it in and turn. You didn't even hear the click; he was rolling out faster than I had thought possible.

I had never forgotten our first escape. I don't think anyone would have, but I had forgotten the finer points like how he had spent precious time trying to unlock my cage with the same key before just breaking it off. They were the old fashioned kind, nothing hard to bust, but soon we were faced with another obstacle. The door. Silently, I glided over to the unconscious man and searched his pockets for his ID card. It was clipped to his sleeve, and I ran it through the little box thing just like I had seen him do.

The last thing we saw from the living room were the biggest smiles ever used at the School.

The smile of freedom.

There was a bit of black onscreen, apparently Jeb had found the security camera with our escape on it. Even though we knew how it had turned out, Fang's breath was coming in excited gasps in my ear. Dimly I realized that mine was the same and that I hadn't blinked for the past ten minutes. Immediately, my eyes felt the sensation, and I closed them for a few seconds.

Fang and I were cautiously making our way down the hallway, ducking in and out of view of the cameras which Jeb had tampered with to show our whole escape as one. Granted, it looked a bit odd when we were walking down one hallway and suddenly there were doors everywhere.

We tried to stay away from those.

Once or twice we paused or backtracked, making sure that we both knew where each other went.

"Where are we going?" Fang whispered once, peeking over my shoulder before we crept around a corner.

"Dunno. Anywhere but here."

That seemed to be enough for Fang, until we peeked around a corner again and two people stood there.

"…lupine/human crosses are going well." One voice could be heard commenting. "I'll admit I never expected much of them, but they can bring things down."

"The avian experiments could beat them." This voice we all recognized, and suddenly Fang's hands were on my shoulders to keep me from bolting. Whispered reassurances flew past my ears as he slowly settled me into his arms.

"I dunno, Batchelder. They're good, but they can't even fly."

"Not _yet._" Jeb insisted. They sounded like people arguing over who was going to win the superbowl.

"You better hope they don't." The other, older, scratchy voice pointed out. "They'd take off. We'd need flying Erasers to catch them."

They laughed at that completely _ridiculous _thought. Fang and I exchanged looks, both on and off screen.

"That's crazy." I said aloud, trying to brush off my fear of the voice from my past. "Flying Erasers, that'd never happen."

What can I say? Sometimes my sarcastic and obnoxious nature gets ahead of me. Fang rolled his eyes. Mom and Ella didn't seem to get it. Iggy laughed, clamping his hand over Nudge's mouth before she could say anything, whereas Angel and Gazzy just grinned.

My younger self pointed Jeb out. "That's my whitecoat, remember?" I whispered to him. "He'll help us find the Outside."

Fang debated, holding me back slightly. "But he's the only one." He finally decided on. "We wait." We both hunkered down beside a table littered with needles, serums and fluids, crouched in the meager shadow the insane lighting allowed. On a chance, I watched myself look back, then gulp as my eyes widened in surprise. Even a four year old with enhanced speech abilities would realize what that meant.

I poked Fang and gestured behind us.

His face paled.

Clear, blood-grime tracks traced where we had been. Smudged in a few places, but a trail all the same. Even as we noticed it, shouts started at the other end of the hall-probably where someone had stumbled upon the tracks or the body.

"Run." I breathed, but Fang didn't move. His eyes were glued to the tracks, horror on his face. Any hope at escaping evaporating from his expression. Fang had been beaten enough for mistakes in his youth to be terrified of even messing up while escaping from his abusers.

"RUN!" My mini me shouted, barreling into him and throwing the both Fang and I right into Jeb and his buddy. As their faces came into view, surprise etched across their features, a flare of recognition spurred somewhere deep in me even as they began to chase Fang and I down the hallway.

"No!" I peeped, just audible and stumbling backwards. Unfortunately, I was already sitting so I sort of fell onto my back and scrambled from there.

"Max!" Fang exclaimed grabbing my hand and helping me into an upright position. "Fast forward," he demanded of my mom instantly. "Until the whitecoats are no longer in view."

How could I not have recognized his voice?

The way he seemed to make bets on the experiments?

"Max." Fang chanted my name quietly under my breath, even as he pulled me into his arms. "Shh…" He whispered. "It's okay, just the past…"

_Just the past. _I repeated to myself. _Just the past. Just the past. Just the past. _

"I'm okay, mom. Please fast forward."

She did so, and I was so relieved to see that she directed the other's attention away from me and toward our escape attempt.

Cautiously, he began to rub my wings softly, even though they were clamped as close to my back as possible. I shook my head again, feeling about ready to throw up. The white-hot pain in my wings… Stinging bloody murder.

Trust me, you don't know what bloody murder is.

I felt the warm blood, dripping down on me and soaking my clothes. My sore throat and lungs when I no longer had the air to scream.

Gradually, Fang's voice managed to have an effect on me and I found the hands on my back were soothing, not painful. I drew a long, heavy breath and realized I had been holding it all in. Quickly, I took a few more breaths and I managed to return my heart to a somewhat normal pace.

"Max?"

"I'm fine, Fang. Thanks." I shuddered, though, despite my words. "Really…what's happening?"

"We got caught." He said it mildly, but I could tell he was disappointed. Even though we knew how the events had turned out, we could always hope…

"You sure you're okay?" The low whisper was for my ears only; the others had turned back to the screen with only a few spare looks at me.

"Just give me a sec." I muttered, inhaling deeply.

On screen, we were now being tossed into small dog crates by shouting whitecoats and Erasers. Some were debating what to do with us, some were yelling at each other, some were yelling at us.

"-knocked Silverman's assistant out!"

"-worst brats-"

"-bad idea-"

Then there was the ever-loud noise of banging on our bars, us spitting comments back.

"SILENCE!" With one word, a small woman had managed to quiet all the bickering men. Obviously the Director of this branch of Itex. Lesser than the big cheese Director, but a Director all the same.

"Batchelder, these are your responsibility?" The cold voice, strangely high continued as the men backed away from our cages with heads bowed.

"Yes, doctor. The female."

"And the other?" She responded promptly.

"Dr. Silverman's, though not under his care at the time of the escape."

"Who was?"

"Dr. Henri

She bent down to peer at us. Fang and I shrunk away from her shrewd glance. "And where is he?"

"Infirmary, doctor." Jeb paused, seeming to regret ratting on me. "Subject One, 10442, 10442gjl113 pushed…it's," I stiffened and narrowed my eyes. "Cage onto his head."

How she knew my 'name', I wasn't aware. Either way she knew it was me and bent down. In one swift motion, she unlocked my cage and pulled me out by the hair, to hold me above her head. I twitched in Fang's arms. He began to rub soothing circles on my arm.

"Mutant," she snarled at me. "Do you talk?"

I stared at her, my brown eyes wide. But I did feel a little thrum of pride when I replied, "Only to other mutants, so I guessed you'd qualify."

She swung me around until I hit the wall, leaving a little trail of fresh blood on the stark whiteness.

"As your superior," she hissed into my ear, "you will _never _address me as such. And you will call me 'doctor' or 'ma'am'."

"I have no superiors." I spat back, my words sounding slightly muffled as she pressed my face to the wall.

"Glad you feel that way." Seriously, I think I may have struck gold on the mutant part. She sounded like a snake. I kicked my feet back in a flash of anger, shoving right into her chest and falling to the floor. Immediately, I skidded toward Fang but the Erasers were on me in an instant as the whitecoats were the Director. Not one, but two Erasers held me up for the Director, and no matter how loud Fang shouted or how I struggled, it remained that way. She drew her fist back and punched me, right in the jaw.

Blood spewed from my mouth onto the neighboring Eraser, who in fury took his own swipe. I watched my face screw up in pain, and then fury as I splattered the Director with blood and saliva. Purposely, of course. She took another go at me, but this time I lifted a free arm to punch hers away. Infuriated, she grabbed my neck in a furious hold, laughing as my face turned blue and Fang rammed against his cage wall, not even noticing the gashes he was giving himself.

Suddenly, she stopped. Carefully, her face measured, she dropped me. Wheezing, I collapsed on the floor next to Fang's cage, grabbing his stuck out hand.

"Take them to the arena." She demanded, her voice cool as if none of the past ten minutes had even happened. "Death matches as punishment for the pair of them."

Fang and I, in the living room, looked at each other then. Angel shivered; I could hear her whimper from all the way across the room.

"What's a death match?" Ella asked nervously, fingering her shirt.

"They pair two experiments together," Nudge explained in a rush. "Rarely the same species. I got stuck with a fish cross once. I didn't have to do anything, it couldn't breathe out of water and died. Anyway, it's a one-on-one-"

"Fight to the death." Ella finished. "I got that part."

"Wasn't always one-on-one, though." I mused, thinking back as I absently watched some Erasers pull us in the direction that Fang and I had been headed.

"Most of the time they were." Iggy pointed out. "In Nudge's defense."

"I'm not attacking her." I rolled my eyes. "There's no need for defense."

"It's an expression."

"I know, I just-"

"Max, you're about to fight someone."

"Am I? Thanks Ells."

But I was, already squaring off against a tiger boy. The picture wasn't very good, it was an aerial camera, but you could also see Fang sitting in his pen. He didn't look relaxed, but at the School you rest when you can. His opponent, maybe part slug was laying on something like a stomach. It was in a pool of sludge and was twitching slightly. Fang looked slightly disgusted.

"_Limax maximus_." He murmured aloud, almost sounding pitying.

"What?" Mom looked at him, her hand to her mouth as she saw the thing in his ring.

"_Limax maximus." _Fang repeated. "Giant Garden Slug human cross."

"And you knew that just by looking at it?" She continued in a peculiar voice. Fang nodded, also seeming confused by her expression.

"Max?"

"Yup?" I watched myself get thrown into a wall by the tiger boy, but quickly retaliated.

"What are you fighting?"

"_Homo sapien_, _Panthera tigris, Panthera onca _cross." I muttered, eyeing the stripes turning into spots on the human's belly. I sprung at it, grabbed his tail and yanked yard, pulling him off of his feet so that he fell flat on his furry face. He snarled, a low, guttural sound straight from Animal Planet. A clawed hand scored it's way across my face, making my fall backward. He leapt at me, screaming in triumph, but I shot a fist out, clocking him in the jaw and I slammed my hands on his sensitive cat ears.

Then I turned to look at how Fang was doing. I knew how my fight turned out, and it didn't please me.

He was still sitting there, just watching the slug. Even as I watched, he carefully crept up to meet it and bent low to it's slimy ear. I couldn't hear what he whispered, but after a low hiss escaped the slug, Fang made his face blank and slammed his foot down on the slug's spinal cord.

It snapped. Carefully, Fang lifted his goo-covered shoe off the creature and walked to the gate where he could wait for the survival of my match. He didn't have to wait long. The cat/human could move very fast, but his human organs weren't equipped for such things. It collapsed, breathing so fast I swore it would soon hyperventilate if I didn't know how it ended.

I looked away until Fang and I had crept quietly back into our cages and were thrown, none-too kindly, onto our shelves. Jeb deposited some food into my cage, and then left quickly and quietly.

I tore the sandwiches apart easily, not seeming to remember Fang's reference. I knew I wouldn't have been able to eat them if I had. Either way, Fang and I gulped them down before Fang murmured something inaudible even to the sensitive speakers.

"What?" I asked, gulping down my last bit of sandwich.

"Back to square one."

"Yep." I held my sleeve to my face, still oozing after the cat boy had clawed at it.

"Max?" Mom's voice was sharp; she had said it multiple times. I didn't know why it had passed through my attention, but it did.

"Yes?"

"Tell me about your… ability to name things scientifically."

"What about it?" I asked, even as the tape clicked and Ella placed the second part in.

Mom hesitated, as if she didn't really want to say what she was going to.

"People your age don't normally know that stuff, Max." Angel pointed out, unabashedly.

"People my age don't normally grow up in a lab."

They dropped the subject. What can I say? It's always been that way. I'll say 'dog' but internally I'll be thinking 'dog, _canis domesticus_. Horse, _equus_.' At least I'd rock if I took Latin. And biology. And genetics. And science. Not math, though, I can't do math to save my life. Besides, who really needs math? I've lived without it, and I don't think my doing long division would keep the M-Geeks away.

"Do you mind if I quiz you?" Ella chirped. "'Cause I think, even though the circumstances suck, it's kinda cool you guys could do that. You'd ace my biology class, Mrs. Frunkers loves that stuff."

"Later." I told her.

So I settled down into Fang's arms and watched us sleep some more. Ella fast-forwarded for a few minutes until Fang and I jumped awake with a harsh buzzing. A whitecoat had come in with a little buzzer that left our younger selves rubbing our ears.

I winced. These were mental tests. They'd bash you, than try to get you to talk, then bash you more. I would only swear and insult them, and Fang had long since stopped speaking. Following this, the whitecoat brought out old-fashioned torture devices and showed us videos of how they worked. Take my word for it that computer animation hadn't been good enough to fake them. Then he'd try to get us to talk again.

"Why'd he chain your cage to the wall?" Gazzy asked me quietly, sniffing. "And not Fang's?"

"I didn't bash anyone's brains out." Fang muttered, tightening his grip around me as the whitecoat tasered him. Fang had spat at the man, and only yelped quietly when the electricity made his hair stand on end and leave a scorch mark on his skin.

Nudge sobbed once. A dry, racking sound that nearly broke my heart as much as Fang's hug did. He was grabbing me, just because he needed something to hold. Fang so rarely did… it was gut wrenching, seeing his pain. Liking his reaction, the whitecoat tasered him again. And again. Fang mashed his lips together, even as I strained on the chains to move my cage closer. I didn't give up, but I made quite a racket, which infuriated the whitecoat.

Finally, I cracked through his hard armor, and he turned the taser on me.

I stiffened in Fang's arms. No one who hasn't been tasered before can resist screaming the first time, so I did. I almost looked comical with my stick-like hair and my eyes wide as saucers.

Almost.

XXXXX

Carefully, oh so carefully, I snuck around the corner of the house. Obviously I had checked the wind first, who knows, Iggy may have had garlic for lunch. Or maybe not. Either way, I crept around to the front of the house with no disturbances.

_Angel, _I called out softly. _Where are they?_

_ Dunno. _She replied, still sounding disappointed in my mind. _They're blocking their minds. _

It's always nice when you realize you don't need a mind reader to help you find your teammates. It's _not _nice when you're alerted by a high pitched shriek and the unmistakable 'sploosh' of a water balloon. There goes Nudge. I quickly pored on the speed, rounding the house and into the woods with Angel in tow.

"You are _so _dead, Fang!"

I've lost count of how many times I've said that myself. The thought made me laugh aloud, but I was already up in a tree and it was too late for Fang.

"NOW!" Angel yelled, sounding like some cavalry commander from Lord of the Rings. They shout a lot in that movie. Anyways. Nudge, Angel, Ella (hidden in a hollow tree) and I pelted Fang with water balloons. He managed to dodge a few with birdkid-like speed, but was soaked all the same. I jumped down and held my water gun to his chest.

He held his arms up with a grimace. I smirked and let a little dribble out of the gun.

"Cornered!" I whipped around, but not before a heavy water balloon splashed into the back of my head. With a gasp, I quickly reached for my satchel, but my arms were pinned behind my back in another instant.

"One step closer and the girl gets it." Fang growled around in a distinctly western accent. Since when did he learn to mimic westerns? It's not like he loved cowboys or had some bizarre desire to ride a horse. All the same, I had a water gun to my head and Fang pinning me back. Nudge, Ella, and Angel had frozen. Unfortunately, we had fallen right into the boy's trap. Gazzy and Iggy were poised in trees, guns and balloons at the ready. Fortunately, they couldn't bring a hose.

"Let go of me, Fang!" I squirmed in his grip, but Fang had since grown a few inches and was taller than me. Therefore, he had the upper hand in a situation such as this.

"Let's see the money!" Gazzy rubbed his hands together while Iggy walked around the three girls with his gun ready and the other hand out.

"Don't do it!" I yelled to them, though the effect was slightly lost by the laughter. We all looked hilarious, drenched form head to toe (Ella had warned us not to wear white shirts. I was glad.) And the boy's hair was stuck up in funny clumps, whereas we girls had it plastered to our head.

"Never!" Nudge snarled at Iggy, holding her water balloons to her chest.

"I have the girl." Fang pointed out. "Are you sure that's a wise decision."

"Don't, Nudge! Ella, you put those balloons away!" I shrieked, twisting again. "You, mind controller, what say you?"

Angel rubbed her hands together with a slightly creepy smile plastered on her angelic little face.

"No powers, you said so yourself!" Gazzy protested, coming up to hold a water balloon in front of my face. Quickly, I jumped slightly forward, dragging Fang with me so I could sink my teeth into the balloon. With a squinching sound, it popped in my mouth, completely soaking my face.

"Way…to…go." Ella choked, clutching her stomach as laughter consumed her. It took me a minute to get over the shock, see everyone laughing, then hear Fang's quiet hysterics in my ear, before I joined in. Gazzy and Iggy didn't even bother to pick up the balloons falling out of Nudge's hands.

"Wish…I…hadacamera!" Nudge gasped. "That was soo priceless! The balloon exploded all over your face, and if your hair wasn't already wet, it would be!" We managed to somewhat control our hilarity, and of course Nudge was the first to speak. "Lucky for you though yours doesn't get all frizzy like mine. Humidity just totally destroys my hair, despite all the hair care products I sometimes used. Even Ella can't tame it, and she's _normal_. So next time we go to the mall or something can I get something to put in it? It's so irritating when we're on the run and if I get to wash it, I do in a river 'cause that doesn't do much for the frizz either-"

"Nudge." Gazzy gripped his head while I shook my head in bemusement. Only Nudge could go from cameras to balloons to malls and hair care. "Please, my ears-"

"Are bleeding, I know." She interrupted. "It's not like I haven't heard you say that a million or two times."

And that brought us all to laughter again.


	21. He left her

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Okay, so kinda short, but I'm writing the other one and will update two at a time, but I had a perfect point to leave you. **

**But first and foremost…**

**LovelyNBlue-yeah, I guess fanfiction doesn't allow links, so sorry about that, and I'm also trying to work on video/reality, so I hope that works out better. The link does work on my profile, though. Just found that out.**

**Mo, thanks for the petition! I signed it! Thanks sooo much, want to come to the grilled cheese's funeral? **

**Iggy-Jay4ever, your plea will be answered soon. In the next chapter or so I'll do a quick summary because it'd take forever if I did every video the School could/would possess, so Iggy will be coming soon. Attention everybody! Iggy will be coming soon. Ooh, now you're all impatient… But anyway, thanks! **

**And Rainie16, as always, a big thank you!**

I woke up surprisingly early the next morning for getting up in the middle of the night and rubbing Fang's back until his nervous sleep twitching subsided. We've trained ourselves not to cry out in our sleep, sounds hard, but at the School, you have to adjust. But that doesn't stop the nightmares. Myself? I was tossing and turning all night, whenever I closed my eyes, all I could see was Fang, every muscle tensed as he was electrocuted.

And of course all the old ones came back in a rush.

Erasers chasing me until I came to the edge of a cliff.

Iggy and his first days without sight.

Nudge's silence. Yes, I used Nudge's name and the word 'silence' in the same sentence.

The two little siblings, held close by the older Flock members and protected during fights. Even with our help though, they had to learn to fight _fast. _

Anyway, I could barely sleep all night, so I got up as soon as I heard quiet footsteps downstairs. Usually, this would set me on edge, but I knew it was mom. The clock read six-o-clock, and she had said something about an 'early start on the day.' Carefully, so as not to disturb a finally peaceful Fang, I crept out of bed. For a moment I paused to look at him, lay out with knees slightly bent on the air mattress. He was on his side, it's nearly impossible to sleep on our backs, what with the wings and everything, and I could see some dark feathers sticking out from under a large, black t-shirt. Fang didn't look different when he slept…well, a bit I guess, just because there was only a rare second when Fang wasn't tense or quiet with no expression. Sometimes, when I was on watch, I would catch a brief smile.

_Stop it, Max._ I barked at myself, shutting my eyes for a second to clear my head before dodging around a bookshelf and out into the hall.

"Max?" Mom asked, surprised as I shuffled my way into the kitchen and plopped into a chair. You know what I hate almost as much as evil people always trying to hurt my family and I? When you're dead tired but can't sleep to save your life. Example.

"Couldn't sleep." I muttered, laying my head on my bent arms, inhaling the scent of coffee. Okay, maybe I couldn't drink it without serious consequences, but I could _smell _it, couldn't I? Like, perfume or potpourri but not all icky floral?

Mom drifted over and sat on the chair next to mine, placing a hand on my back to rub it. Seems like a lot of people have been doing that recently. Maybe I need my own massage chair. Yeah. Right.

"Nightmares?" She continued softly, in that perfect motherly tone that only real moms can perfect. No orange juice commercials here, no tv shows either. It made me sigh quietly with a small smile. I had a mom, a _real _mom, and for those that take yours for granted, I think you're crazy. For fourteen years there was a chance I didn't have a mom, only a test tube. Try getting a Mother's Day gift for one of them. And with that perfect sound of a caring mother who doesn't think it matters if you're part bird, I relaxed a tad. Just a crack in my stone exterior, but a crack all the same.

"A few." Million.

There was a brief pause as she took a sip of coffee. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head and shuddered even as the hand continued to rotate on my back. I knew if I started talking I wouldn't stop, like word spit. Word throw up, as Katy would say. I saw Mean Girls with Ella… totally pointless but hilarious anyways.

"Was it about…" Mom began in that other tone where moms don't want to mention something, but feel they should anyway. Generally it's a red flag for an awkward talk, but that wasn't the case here. "The man, yesterday?"

"Some."

"Fang's rubbing off on you."

I croaked a laugh, leaning on her shoulder. "It would seem. I couldn't sleep, either. I swear he's an insomniac."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Said mom, "Want something warm for breakfast? Hot chocolate?"

I nodded again, shifting back in my chair as she got up to boil some water. My wings had been pressed so tightly to my back all night with fear, I could barely relax them even as I knew I was safe. For the time being. All the same, I extended them to lie across a few other chairs and sighed again.

"Max?" Mom said my name again as she slid my mug across the table. Before I could reply, she continued. "I was worried about something…and hoped you could fill me in."

I waited for her, a bit nervously. After a moment, she continued.

"I understand that it is a stressful subject for you, but," I heard her gulp even over the water she was using to rinse her dishes. "I'd like to know who the man was."

I jerked, than froze, splashing hot chocolate all over my face. I didn't hear her sudden comforting sounds, or the chair falling as I slid out and hugging my wings close to me. Even as the tide of memories swept back, I pressed them back with good ones. Fang's smile. His voice. Gazzy's bad jokes. Angel's giggle. Even Celeste. Iggy touching colors with an entranced expression. Nudge's chattiness. Needles- _No, Max! _I forced myself to remember Total and Angel sleeping, huddled up in a tree.

"Max?" Dimly, I noticed mom was crouched next to me and that I was huddled up in the corner of the kitchen where Fang had been ratted out by the cat.

"I'm fine." I choked out, knee-jerk reaction. "It's just…" My throat felt tight in terror, and I had to gulp a few times to be able to speak. "You need to know?"

"I'm sorry." She really did sound sorry, "it's a mom thing." I understood slightly, it was the same feeling I got when Nudge disappeared into a mall and I had to know what she was doing, even though I hate malls. I convinced myself I needed to unwrap my wings because I was going for a flight. The cool wind would soon be brushing against my face, tossing my hair about my head in a way nothing else could.

"Look." I gasped, covering my eyes. "Look closely. At my wings."

She was just Fang, stroking my feathers.

"Where the feathers part oddly?" You had to be really close to notice now, it had been almost ten years ago and feathers fall out and grow back, but the markings had never left. The scars, both mental and physical. I nodded, and after feeling her push them apart, I heard mom's breath leave in a 'whooshing' noise. In one swift motion, I pulled my wings back in again, knowing she had seen them. Neither of us spoke. We were both in crumpled, but technically upright positions on the floor. My breathing was ragged, hers wasn't much better.

"How?"

"Gun." I interrupted, I knew what she would say. "Military model, 42 caliber rifle."

"Are you?" Mom finished, planting a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm so sorry for asking now, Max. I can try to understand." She pulled me into her arms, and I allowed her to stroke my hair.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" I asked suddenly, jumping from her grip and spinning around the kitchen. "The Flock, they can't know. Fang would flip. They'd hunt him down. He's dangerous," I was rambling now. "And what would they think of me? I'd be-"

"Max." Mom shushed me, pulling my arms from the tightly folded position against my chest. "I won't, don't worry." And so, with her words, I managed to calm down eventually when she led me to the chair again and sat me down. When she left, half an hour late, I was still there, sitting in the same position. And that was how Fang, drifting silently downstairs not twenty minutes later, found me. It was unspoken, he knew I couldn't talk anymore, and very simply held me in his arms.

We sat that way for I don't know how long. Him in comforting silence. Me in aftershock, numbing fear still coursing through my veins after ten years. If you look closely at my wings, very close, you'd notice the pattern of feathers was off in places. If for some bizarre reason I allowed you to pull the feathers back, you'd see the damaged tissue and muscle, never healed properly. Where a man, a so-called 'human', had taken a gun to a child.

And shot her.

Ten times.

And left her.

He _left _her.


	22. Harry Potterisms

**-EDIT-so, in case you guys aren't aware by now, I've been editing some earlier chapters and fixing a few minor spelling/grammar issues and adding some stuff to fit in with the story LATER. So I hope you enjoy the improved version. Thanks, -Ivyflightislistening, March 12, 2011**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

Just because I assume since anyone reading this is slightly normal, as in, not a semi-successful experiment from a lab, you probably don't have much free time. Well, neither do us mutants, when we're on the run, but at mom's house I had plenty of time to scribble some stuff down and sleep in until ten. For your sake, I'm going to summarize some of the past events for you all. Sorry if you hate summaries, but I know Iggy and the others will want you to hear about their bravery at the School, or maybe I just want to brag for them, so, yeah.

Fang and I watched a few more videos on us. Reactions? Well, there was the one video… we had stayed outside for a whole day. As in, sunset to another sunset when I realized how long we'd been gone (we got to Wyoming, had some ice cream, cloud gazed on some mountaintop) and I brought us back before eight. Mom had tried to be furious, but with one look at us she gave us hot food silently and helped us upstairs when we slept for another day. That was so severe I refuse to write about it, sorry, but maybe you'd understand if you were locked up as a child. Verbally abused. Physically mutilated. Left without food or water for three days, beaten to the point of no return, unable to sleep because of the steady stream of irritating noises coming from speakers.

But I said I didn't want to talk about it.

Anyway, we finished up all but the needle videos of Fang and I, even though some were more disturbing than the needle ones, had a few more water gun/balloon fights, went to the park, went on a boat ride, watched plenty of non-violent movies, had fun, the works. I was starting to feel uneasy staying in one place for so long, but it was moms, and no one had tried to kill us. Yet. Besides, I was working on saving the world, and the world stops for no one.

As for the movies? We watched Eragon, which was a good movie, but Ella said the book was much better. I took her word for it, I don't read much.

Twilight? Kind of weird/creepy. I'm not for the whole vampire-romance genre. I guess it was a good plotline, and the book was apparently also fabulous (according to El), but Ella said the movie was an insult to the book so she turned it off half-way through and then explained the rest to us.

Ella, Nudge, Ang, and I watched Twenty-Seven Dresses. It was a total chick flick with a five star rating on my part. Then we made our way through more Disney movies, also good. We watched Because of Winn-Dixie for Angel, but I'll admit it was cute, but the ultimate winner was The Lord of the Rings. It is officially my favorite trilogy of movies. I'll read the books eventually, I have nothing against reading, I just don't have time. But yes! Such quality, although we had to mute it whenever a nazgul screamed. Gazzy loved the orcs, Nudge and Ella the elfish clothing and cute actors, Iggy the explosions (big surprise), and Fang actually seemed to enjoy it. He liked the subtle threat of the hidden men and how even the underdog-hobbits could save the day. Or maybe that was just me, but I think he liked that… Anyway, it was time for an action-y film.

And then, just as we were all somewhat relaxed, we were slapped in the face yet again. We knew it was coming, but it was a shock anyway. Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, Ella and mom all stared at the four year old like their lives depended on it.

We were seated as usual in the living room with everyone but Jeb for the count and had finally gotten to video labeled "Group Two: Video One." The screen opened to whitecoats yelling and bustling around, Fang and I just visible in the background. We were as close to each other as the separate dog crates would allow when the Erasers, whitecoats, Director, and various suits finally managed to calm themselves into order and push another cage on my other side. Strangely, as soon as they had him up there, they left in such an orderly fashion I almost didn't believe the previous chaos had happened.

"Ohygodit'syou,Iggy!" Nudge squealed in a rush, jumping to her feet. "You were so tiny! I can't believe…wow!" Nudge was rarely at a loss for words, but I watched with raised eyebrows as she kept looking back and forth from the Iggy on the screen and tense fourteen year old like Total with a laser pointer.

Fang and I looked at the newcomer, all of us dead silent. You could hear a pin drop without scientifically enhanced hearing. Iggy was crouched in the back of his cage, ruffled hair nearly brown from dirt falling in his eyes. All of us were scrawny and bone-thin, but for some reason Iggy was shaking with exhaustion. Now that I noticed, I could hear his heavy breathing each time his rib cage expanded.

"I'd had an escape attempt right before coming." He announced as if reading my thoughts. "That's why they were all crazy."

An escape attempt would do that.

"Why the suits?" Fang asked quietly as the three four year olds continued to stare at each other in silent bewilderment. Iggy shrugged.

"I think they were gonna try to buy me, but they didn't like my behavior."

"_Buy _you?" Ella asked, horrified. She and Iggy had grown close over the few weeks we had been at mom's house. They now joked around a lot and would talk together during meals, it was nice. The Gasser was nice, but I sometimes wondered if maybe Iggy wanted companionship closer to his age, besides Fang and I. A person who needed a ton of friends would not do well in the Flock, what with the limited companionship, but I think the Flock is better than most of the friends in the world. I mean, they don't ditch you to be popular.

"Yep." He shrugged it off. "It was kinda common."

I was still impressed with him warding off potential buyers. Often, because avian/humans are so rare, they would be very hard to persuade that in fact, it was not a good investment. Look how the Uber Director and Gozen turned out.

Finally, four-year-old Iggy opened his eyes from more than tiny slits and relaxed somewhat. He blinked twice at Fang and I, and then looked around the room.

"Where am I?" He asked, but I was still reeling in shock. I don't know if any of us heard my words ("prison, numbskull") or saw Fang's shrug, because even Fang and I, who had known Ig before the eye surgery were staring in amazement.

When Iggy got a view of his new room for the first time, a full 360-degree look, the camera got full blast of his startling, sapphire-blue eyes. Not clouded by any scratches or dull grey color, irises reacting to the light changes, as they never did anymore. Iggy could _see. _

After I had eventually come down from my little cloud of nostalgia, I realized Iggy had asked Fang and I who we were. Our younger selves exchanged a look.

"We're avian experiements." I told him, then turned back to look at Fang who didn't say anything. The cameras showed him as he narrowed his eyes and bobbed his head toward Iggy in a calculating manner. Even ten years later, I could tell what he was asking.

_Can we trust him?_

I smiled reassuringly, just a crack that didn't help at all because it was totally faked and marred by my cracked lip. Even Fang was young, he seemed to see right through it. Though not much of a description, my explanation worked for the young Iggy, who grinned, revealing a wide set of white baby teeth, a few chipped, a few missing.

"Hi!" He chirped, and I know what you're thinking. Iggy, chirping? That's, like, Nudge's thing, to chatter for a long time, but if you've been isolated for a while and meet new people, it can be quite the conversation starter. "I'm Iggy, and I'm part avian too," he continued, "and honestly I'm glad you're here because I don't know where everyone's gone and there was this huge racket of talking and yelling from the men in white and it hurt my ears." Slowly, the sapphire eyes of the four year old turned haunted. I knew what he was doing; everyone but Fang and I had done it. Fang because he just didn't talk, and I because there was no one to talk too. Anyway, after something traumatizing happens, you jabber for a few moments to whoever's available. It helps relieve the tension, makes you feel like there is still normalcy in the world.

"And I don't know where my friend is… I think that's the word, anyway. He was part _Tursiops truncatus _and had a tank right next to my cage, that's how I got my name because I had the hiccups and it sounded like… well, my name, so he named me." The blonde four year old shrugged his shoulders, but then seemed to decide against it as a bloodied arm jerked.

"_Tursiops truncates?_" Ella repeated, mystified. None of the Flock turned to look at her, I was still staring in shock at Iggy's eyes. It choked me up. However, without turning, Fang answered,

"Bottlenose Dolphin."

Iggy was still rambling quietly in his cage while Nudge explained to Ella and mom what he was doing, 'de-stressing' she called it. Apparently she got it from him, and sadly didn't ditch it after he grew out of it.

"Will you _shut up?_"

Immediately, everyone in the living room had their attention snapped to Fang's dark shape in the corner of his cage in the corner of the room. It was the first word he had spoken through the ten minutes of Iggy chattering and myself occasionally getting a word in edgewise. We did, shutting our mouths and turning to look at with eyes wide. Blue and brown, two sets meeting dark, dark, darkness.

Suddenly, I turned like a live wire, as there was a snicker from the back of the room. What can I say? Random noises during silence put me on edge. It was Ella, and she was holding her fist in her mouth, trying to stifle the laughter.

"I'm… sorry!" She choked, but before she could continue, she started on another high pitched shriek of laughter so Iggy pounded her back when she choked. Fang and I, the fourteen year olds, glanced at each other. A corner of his mouth twitched, a smile. I grinned back.

"Typical."

He responded, quite maturely, I must add, by rolling his eyes. Then he pointed at the screen, and my eyes following his finger, I looked. I was watching myself roll my eyes and poke him through the bars of the cage. Fang glared at me. Iggy was sort of the third wheel, in back and looking confused at our silent conversation.

After I watched myself sigh heavily and turn so I could look at Fang and Iggy at the same time, Iggy plucked up his courage to meet the eyes of the silent, dark cloud in the corner of the room.

"You don't like noise, do you?"

Fang raised his dark eyebrows and looked impassively through the bars of the cage. "What's it matter?" I could tell it was rhetorical, even as the four-year-old Fang turned in his cage to stare just above the door with a faraway expression. However, I guess most four-year-olds don't get rhetorical-ness, and Iggy was unfazed.

"Well," Iggy mused. "Let me rephrase. You apparently don't like other people much. Or talking." Fang looked infuriated. "But some sounds are good."

Fang looked at him again with a clear 'like what?' expression.

"Laughter. Water. Erasers screaming. Purring-"

"No." My voice, though higher because of my age, still rang with finality. I felt a nudge on my leg. Fang, clearly pointing that out. "Purring is the sound something makes when it's happy because it's claws are this far away from your face." I held my fingers about six inches apart for Iggy. "So, nothing personal, but purring isn't good."

"Fair point." Said the young Iggy, his voice sounding strangely high. After a moment of awkward silence, "They shot the _Felis_ _catus_ for you guys, too, huh?"

I nodded and shuddered. Hence the reason why I would allow a mutant talking dog who likes sonnets and chardonnay but not a cat. What can I say? At least I don't get animals as decorations for the furniture *cough, cough, Paris Hilton, cough, cough.*

"So," Iggy asked conversationally, looking around the room again. "How long have you and the demon child been here?"

"We're not demons." My younger self protested, glaring at him. Granted, Fang already had that covered. Next to me in the living room and reality, Fang moved closed to me and bumped me once. Smiling, I leaned my head on Fang's shoulder. He didn't tense or anything! Lets here it for not being as paranoid, folks!

"Than do you guys have names?"

"I'm Maximum." I told him. "But if you prove to be of worth," ooh, I was still pissed about the demon comment. Gazzy giggled evilly. "Then you can call me Max. He's Fang."

Iggy huffed and turned away.

"God, I forgot how obnoxious you could be." I turned, even though he wouldn't know, toward Iggy. Fang laughed quietly.

"Don't worry," Iggy snickered. "I never forgot how mean you could be."

I threw my shoe at him, laughing all the same.

"You three are like Ron, Harry, and Hermione!" Ella squealed, jumping on the couch to look at all three of us once.

"Whaat?"

"Harry Potter Obsessor! Quick, save the women and children!" Iggy yelled, pointing at Ella accusingly.

"Explain." Fang said simply, though I could tell he was somewhat amused.

"Pause it, mom." Ella said quickly, before using various excited hand motions to explain to us all in a rush. "Well, in Harry Potter, Harry and Ron are friends first and really close and everything and they think that Hermione is an obnoxious know-it-all but then they get into a fight with a monster troll and J.K. Rowling writes 'But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.' So I bet something like that happened!"

My sister could quote whole sections from Harry Potter. Yes, she had read them to me, and I have nothing against Harry Potter, but I fell asleep whenever she tried. I'm tired! Don't kill me.

We were all silent for another moment, until Ella murmured, "what?"

"Well, it's better than Nudge quoting _Eighteen_ or whatever." Gazzy pointed out sensibly.

"_Seventeen!_ Get it straight, Gazzy. And I don't quote it, I just remember hair tips and stuff. Plus some times they have perfume samples though I like natural smells better. Like cucumber and coconut. I've never had coconuts, when we were in Hawaii I wish I had. However, I did get a super cute bathing suit so mmphh-"

"Thanks, Ig." Mom exhaled, rolling her eyes, sounding just like me.

Pretty soon, after the awkwardness on screen had subsided some and Fang and I got through an entire conversation, or I talked to him and judged his reactions with occasional input from younger Iggy, we watched the usual: whitecoats and Erasers filing in, shoving us from one cage to the other, having a bit of trouble with my chained one, until a few moments later, we had been successfully dumped into the arena. Might I add again?

"What are we doing?" Iggy's younger self asked Fang and my own miniatures in a nervous tone.

"Fighting." I replied coldly. "Come stand with your back to ours, don't let them see your weak side."

He complied quietly, getting into place just as the doors slid open again to reveal, not Erasers… not robots, nor whitecoats, but _water_. A whole frickin' lot of water.

It had taken Iggy, Fang, and I forever to get comfortable with water, I had always remembered the sudden rushing tide sweeping through the arena towards where Fang, Iggy and I stood still, petrified in fear as the dark mass swept toward us. Even now, you ever notice how in the books we're always the last ones to get in? This is why. I shuddered, creeping backwards with Fang and reaching a hand out for Iggy's knee as the torrent swept the three of us up.

Angel squeaked in horror. Gazzy's mouth turned into a little 'o' of terror. Mom grabbed the arm of her chair as if it were life support.

The tsunami hit us like a freight train, and you could dimly see us spinning away. I counted down the seconds until we managed to fight our way to the surface.

"At least we got a bath." I whispered to Fang, trying to stay optimistic. He nodded once. There were three heads, just visible by an aerial camera that bobbed nearer to each other even as the water rose. You could barely hear Fang call my name as the screen went blank.

XXXXX

"Apparently they can't breathe underwater." One whitecoat murmured to the other, looking at our bedraggled bodies, shivering in the cages.

"Yeah," my voice was cracked from the water intake. I remembered how close we had been to death and shuddered again. Fang placed his hand on my arm. "Apparently."

Gazzy giggled nervously. He'd heard that tone many times before.

The whitecoat kicked my cage.

"It was good to check, though." I continued bravely.

"Dang, Max. Stop mouthing off to the whitecoats!" Nudge whispered. I glanced at her over the table. I knew she was a trooper, but often people didn't understand why to resist until the moment they had to.

"I mean, shouldn't we check to see if everyone could breathe underwater? Totally helpful, isn't it, Iggy?"

Iggy didn't respond, he was still shaking in his cage.

"Yes." Fang said in that monotone of his. "Dead helpful."

"You two brats will be dead if you don't shut up!" Another Eraser kicked all three of our cages, making them slide across the floor and into the wall. Fang's and Iggy's flipped over, so it took them a moment to scramble up again.

"That would also be helpful," I pointed out. "To figure out if all your tests would work without us."

"A good hypothesis." Iggy piped up from in his dog crate. "If I may say so."

The Eraser screamed in fury, the whitecoats ignored him and scribbled away. He pounced on my cage and began flinging me around. I laughed manically, just to bother him. It worked, to say the least. He flung me into a wall where my cage cracked open and I skittered out to slam his head into the same wall. Again, the Eraser screamed, and quickly had me pinned to the floor. That's when he kicked my head. Again. And Again.

"Max!" Fang yelled from his cage, pushing it forward inch by inch toward where I was having the pulp beat out of me. Even Iggy, who I hadn't been on the greatest terms with, was slowly moving towards me in cold determination. Eventually, the Eraser managed to subside us and stack us back onto the cart, which was wheeled away by the whitecoats who had done nothing to help the Eraser. I noticed it in cold satisfaction.

"Max, did you go out of your way to bother the whitecoats?" Mom asked as the tape clicked. None of the rest of us moved, but she stretched and removed the tape from the player.

"She wouldn't have half as many scars if she hadn't." Iggy pointed out. "It was crazy."

"Fun, though." I argued, standing myself and pulling Fang up.

"It was fun that they beat you up?" Ella asked incredulously. "I knew it all along. You _are _crazy."

I ignored the last part and hurried down the hall for some fresh air. I stepped onto the porch and inhaled deeply as a warm breeze came through the woods.

"Their reactions." I breathed, smiling. "Expressions. Priceless."

"Weren't you ever afraid?" Ella asked, pushing me forward so we could all file outside. "Oh, mom, where are you going?"

Mom had grabbed her wallet and a baseball cap from the rack by the door and slipped out past us toward the car. She smiled a little sadly. "Grocery store. Burritos sound good for dinner, and any ice cream requests!"

"Double Chocolate Fudge!" Yelled the Gasman, punching the air. "And Cookie Dough!"

"Oreo Coconut." Said Nudge in a dream-state.

"Vanilla?" Ella peeped.

"Something delicious?"

"I'll find something." Mom laughed, waving us down and popping into the car. "Well, I'm off! You guys play in the yard or something!"

"Can we sit down?" Nudge yawned. "I'm exhausted." Even as she asked, she collapsed into the sparse grass. Ella and Angel sat on her other sides, then Iggy next to Ella, and Fang and I into a little circle.

"Welcome." Gazzy drawled. "This is my Circle of Eternal Sacrifice. One of you, step into the center and offer any valuables."

We all, minus Iggy, looked at him. He shrugged.

"I dunno, you guys were all so quiet!"

"Ella was asking a question." Iggy pointed out, staring at the Gasman. Or at his ear, but even Iggy isn't perfect. I sighed; I wouldn't be able to avoid it.

"We all were, Ella." I whispered quietly. Focusing intently on a beetle crawling up a blade of grass, I allowed Fang to rub the spot between my shoulder blades. "But it was either that, or let them master us. Someone taught me early on not to allow that."

"I think I'm mostly scared of rats, though." Nudge chattered absently, turning onto her back to look at the clouds. "I don't know why, it's not like anything happened back at the School with rats. They just…I dunno. They're fine dead, though. One time Fang brought them back to eat and I thought it was gross, just because he brought back _desert rat_ and that's stretching it for us, even, if we're not desperate, though there are certainly times when I think I would eat desert rat. I think Hawaii would be a good place to be stranded 'cause you could just eat the fruit and coconuts, though I bet we'd find some meat. I'd like to be a vegetarian, but after a long flight I want something to eat, not grainy health nut food! Vegetarians are nut cases I think, so maybe I'll be a sometimes-arian, where I eat meat when I want too." Nudge paused, licking her lips. I looked at her in amusement. "Yeah! I'm gonna be a sometimes-arian. Is that okay, Max?"

I had to resist from laughing. "Go ahead, Nudge." But I couldn't help the wide smile that spread across my face. Only Nudge could go from her worst fear to a sometimes-arian. Ella looked at me from across the circle with raised eyebrows, also smiling.

"I think I'm most afraid of…being alone." Angel mused quietly, running her fingers through Total's fur. "Or spiders. Spiders are a bit better though, because at least I can hear their minds, and know that there's something in them."

Yes, seven year olds can go that deep to talk about spiders having thoughts, feelings, willpower. However, our conversation had somehow turned to fears and it was slowly heading my way.

"Guns." Ella pointed out calmly. "Scare the crap out of me. Mom wanted to get a gun a while back because a gang started up at my school, but I wouldn't let her."

"A gang?" Iggy asked quietly, rubbing grass from his jeans.

"The cops broke 'em up a while ago, but they weren't the worst. Just stealing and stuff, no murders."

"That doesn't make it okay." He pointed out, still staring in the direction of the ground. "I'm afraid of nothing."

Okay, I couldn't help it, I snorted disbelievingly. Gazzy stared at him like Iggy had grown another head. We had rarely talked about it before, but we were all afraid of something. There was always that one thing that drove us crazy…

"Not like that!" Iggy protested, raising his hands in defense. "Like, having nothing there. Nothing to hear, feel, sense. You know?" With his words, I murmured a brief pained sound. He had already lost his sight, what if something else was gone, too?

Unconsciously, everyone seemed to shift towards Fang, even though he was still staring upward at the darkening sky.

After a few moments, he finally breathed something. I hadn't expected it. I had expected him to ignore them and walk away, but never to actually admit that Mr. Cold, Hardcore and Strong could possibly be afraid of anything. Of course, I knew he was, but that was different from admitting it.

Fang's whisper was barely heard over the soft wind, but I knew even Ella heard it from her expression.

"Cages." He said, than gulped and repeated it. "Cages."


	23. Dangers of Living

**-EDIT-so, in case you guys aren't aware by now, I've been editing some earlier chapters and fixing a few minor spelling/grammar issues and adding some stuff to fit in with the story LATER. So I hope you enjoy the improved version. Thanks, -Ivyflightislistening, March 12, 2011**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

** Wow, I can't believe we're already at chapter twenty-three! **

** WCG-oh. Sorry about that, yeah, my brother (he's seven) was making up words and I thought 'kaboodle' sounded amusing. Also sorry if you (or anyone) took offence to the southerners comment, and I can't remember where I wrote that or why, but no, I didn't it was that in Swedish. I'll fix that… But thanks for your review! **

** FreeSpirit-They'll find out, don't worry ;) Thank you, and you'll find out about Max soon enough.**

** Kara Nicole-thanks! **

** Mo-Hope you're not too sad, the sandwich wedding should cheer you up! But you'll see about Fang's fears… the list of terror hasn't ended yet… bum bum bum…**

** MaxRideRox-thank you! Seriously. **

** And now we commence, oh Knights of the Round Table! Here we are in Camelot to bring peace, joy, and hospitality through Maximum Ride. **

"No, Total!" I heard Nudge shout indignantly. "I don't care if you can fly, chocolate ice cream isn't good for you!"

"You can have a lick of mine," I turned to not only see strangers avoiding us after Nudge's rather loud comment, but Angel bend down to let Total lick her strawberry cheesecake ice cream cone.

Total visibly brightened after, and even in the dim light I could see that he was now sporting a spot of ice cream on his nose.

"Such succulent flavor!" He exclaimed, trotting forward to stand with Akila. "Clearly homemade, for the fresh strawberries add such a note to the cream! A fine choice!" Which made Angel giggle.

I rolled my eyes and spun my tongue around my own cone to keep it from dripping coconut oreo on my shirt. Not that I really care about that kind of thing, but mom had given it to me and I wasn't that keen to destroy it. Plus, she hadn't even made me go shopping, bothered me about patterns or textures, it as just a thin, soft, blue t-shirt. I mean, if Nudge and Angel acted like that, I might let them go shopping more often.

"Black raspberry's good." Ella informed him, and let him lick it when he said he didn't believe her. I think it was just a dirty trick to get more ice cream (we hadn't got another cone, the ice cream shop seemed overwhelmed enough by our party of eight plus three dogs.)

"Cake batter!" Gazzy moaned in happiness. "Almost as good as the smell of frying bits of metal and the sound of total destruction."

"Almost." Iggy clarified.

I nearly choked. "Can we _please _make it through an evening without blowing anything up?"

"You can." He replied petulantly. I sighed and decided to drop it. Yes, so far, the Flock plus mom, Ella, and the dogs had managed to have an outing without any major catastrophes. Mom had run for some food and made dinner while we had ran around outside. It had been Gazzy's idea to play flashlight tag, and Fang was the only one who succeeded in tagging everyone and keeping them in 'jail.' Supposedly, he didn't use invisibility, and I actually believed him. One, because I trust Fang's word, and two, 'cause Fang's just creepy enough to be able to walk around and tag people without them knowing. It's sort of a good/bad thing, like Iggy and matches. Following dinner, mom announced that she thought it would be fun to go out for ice cream and walk in the park in town, so here we were.

"Max?" Fang leaned down slightly to whisper my name just as I finished the last piece of my cone. "Look up."

I did, blinking for a minute to adjust my vision so I could see around the ugly street lamplight.

The dark sky, mixes of blues, grays, blacks, and purples, was illuminated by millions of stars. I could see them even from down in the small town, and even better when Fang pulled me down away from the others and away from the streetlamp, my head still craned backwards. In the background I could still hear Iggy and Gazzy now debating over how easily some guns in a hunting shop window would blow up, mom telling Angel a story, something about moths… And Nudge and Ella giggling quietly about something. However, more prominent was the warm feeling of Fang's hand in mine and his voice in my ear.

He raised his other hand to point out the stars, a bright swath covering the sky, and then a lone shape darting around. A hawk, casually swooping around without a care in the world.

"It's free." I sighed with longing, already knowing what I would be doing as soon as we got home. Fang nodded once. I spared a glance at his face to see his eyes taking in everything and the small quirk of his mouth.

"Fang…" I asked quietly, keeping my eyes trained on the hawk. "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

He didn't have to clarify what I was talking about. For a moment I had thought I might have gone too far, because I had never voiced _my _worst fear and as soon as I voiced my question, Fang's grip in my hand tightened and became rock hard.

"Sort of." Fang exhaled, making the statement sound even sadder. I leaned my head on his shoulder, even as we kept looking up.

"It's not bad to be frightened." I said quietly, brushing hair from my eyes with a free hand. The hawk dove, chasing quarry, but quickly returned to soar again, and apparently the effort to catch something was too much. For now it had the freedom to do what it wanted.

"I know. You told me that. We were five. You said something corny like, "courage is acting in spite of fear." But I'm not scared for me…" Fang turned his head to look at me, meeting my eyes in such a close proximity. "Maximum." He said my full name carefully, sounding out every syllable. He only said my name when he was trying to irk me, or being deathly serious.

"I'm scared for you." He admitted quietly, then hurriedly looked back to the sky. "I…I never want to lose you, Max. And you don't exactly take it easy."

It felt like all my internal organs, air sacs and all, rose into my throat, choking me as I held back tears. Fang being all emotional? It was almost too much. It made me realize how much I needed him, that he had it all wrong… He'd be fine without me.

"Sorry." Fang continued, brushing bangs into his face. "I…well, like…"

"Fang," I asked him, incredulous, "are you stuttering?" And I brushed his dark hair out of his face so he could stare right into my eyes. He gulped, but met my gaze either way.

"I'd die if you were gone." I told him, completely serious. There was a flicker in his eyes, then he pulled me along, so we still had the others in sight (Angel jumping on top of the park bench before tackling Iggy, mom laughing, Nudge watching with an amused look, and Ella and Iggy talking quietly. Total had wandered off into the park with Akila.) "Who's the one who told me to not allow anyone to take advantage of me? Who's the one who told me we were worth something, when everyday someone was telling him that he was not worth the dust on his feet? Who's the one who can tell me I'm crazy? Who…" but the expression on his face had me slow down. We had walked further away from the others and the harsh glare of the lamps, but I could see his eyes, very serious and clouded with pain.

"Max." Fang said roughly, "this is bad. We can't..." He turned his eyes on me again, dark depths looking… miserable? "We can't do this. The whitecoats will… Don't die."

"Wipe those dark thoughts from your mind, young man." I jabbed him in the chest. "The whitecoats will only take advantage of us if they catch us and find out. Now, stop talking of dying so we can both just, you know…"

His eyes had lightened somewhat, something sparking in their dark depths that was utterly entrancing. I felt him pull me a little closer, could feel his body heat. "Live?" He asked.

I nodded. "Sounds good-Fang!" I shrieked as he grabbed me and swept me around, laughing. "Put me _down!_" I tried not to laugh, but I was practically dying with it, and for once I just allowed myself to let happiness be.

**XXXXX**

Although I kept my eyes trained on the younger kids, I also paid close attention to my daughter and Fang who were walking further on. First he led her there, pointing to the sky. Even from far back, I could see her smile and lean her head on her shoulder.

"Total!" I called. "Akila! There are children present, please remember that!" I shot Ella a look, who nudged Iggy so they stopped giggling abruptly. The two dogs trotted toward us from behind a patch of trees.

"It was nothing dirty!" Total protested, staring indignantly up at me from the ground. "I was showing her the reflection of the moon in a puddle, so like her own fur…"

"Fang!" I may not have had the life Max did, but I still reacted pretty quickly, looking up toward them and shoving Angel behind me. Nudge, Ella, Angel, Gazzy, and I watched her as Fang suddenly picked her up and swung her around. Their laughter echoed around the deserted park. I smiled softy to myself and shushed Gazzy.

I didn't need to be Angel to see that they were head-over-heels for each other. I just had to hope that nothing would go wrong.

**XXXXX**

_My lungs burned, and I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Somehow, though, I kept running. My breathing rushed in and out, so forcefully I barely noticed the branches whipping my face and brambles clawing at my knees. But I still pushed myself faster, using a good kick to fling me over a fallen tree. _

_ Still, they were gaining on me. _

"Faster!" _I growled to myself, _"move, Max, move!"

_ A gunshot exploded near my head, breaking a branch and making it fall to the ground. Unable to react quickly enough, I sprawled to the forest floor and slammed my head on a rock. Pain exploded above my ear, and I had to stifle a scream. Hiding was the only way I could save myself now. And I had to save myself. Who would take care of the Flock? _

Fang, Iggy, Nudge, _I told myself, _Gazzy, Angel, _but I couldn't get the banging to stop in my head or the blackness to stop confusing me. I tripped again, falling into a muddy swamp. I wanted to scream in frustration, but I still couldn't get any sense of my surroundings, it was infuriating! _

_ The shouts increased, louder and louder. They were nearly upon me. I scrambled forward, my hands and knees slipping in the mud and sobs wracking my body. I told myself to cut it out, but the tears wouldn't stop and they didn't help with my clouded vision. Thorns sliced my palms as I scrabbled at the mossy, slippery boulders and clambered out of the swampy thing only to fall into a wild rose bush. Not that I generally recognize stuff like that, but even I notice roses. Why not? I mean, they smell good, and depending on the color, can be kinda pretty. _

_ Wow. I must be on meds or something. I just called an object 'pretty.' Maybe the meds were effecting my vision as well, because a random jumble of human-like shapes were closing in and my heart was racing. I couldn't move, the thorns had caught at my clothing and now I was struggling like Frodo in Shelob's spidery lair in Lord of the Rings. One of them grabbed at my shoulder, I struggled in vain as they kept nudging me and calling my name. I wanted to shout at them to leave me alone, but I was so parched I couldn't, they just kept shaking me lightly, when finally, I managed to free my arm and take a swing in the general direction of my attacker._

My fist connected with something hard, freeing me of the nightmare even as a dark figure staggered backwards and a loud noise jolted me up.

My breath was coming in a rush, in a nanosecond I figured out it had been a dream, but there was still the shape slamming into a bookshelf, and in less than a second, I had removed the tangled covers from the bed and was ready to attack-

"Max!" Fang's voice, though quiet, somehow got through to me in my state of, well, not panic, but rather elevated feelings when I was ready to tear someone's head off. Carefully, dark eyes glinting in the little light from the moon, he stood, judging my reactions. I realized he was waiting for me to relax so he could be sure I wouldn't hit something again. I plopped down to sit on my bed, attempting to slow my breathing. Already, the dream was flitting away faster than hawks, but I remembered I had been running. It felt like it.

"Was that your head?" I used the meager light coming through the window to look at my fist. I've had broken bones, internal bleeding, and been subjected to numerous horrors you could only dream of, but his head was still _hard. _Definitely not the worst pains I had felt, not even in top hundred, but I could feel it.

"And to think my bruises were almost gone." He teased, coming to sit next to me on the bed and folding his hands in his lap. Fang had a point, we'd been at mom's for a few weeks, and for I think the first time in our ridiculously hard lives, only I was sporting a bruise. If it hadn't been for the stupid snake, we would all look like relatively normal children.

Like, minus the wings and everything.

"Did I damage your complexion?" I stuck my tongue out at him, very maturely, I must add. He glanced at me with an almost amused expression, then looked back down at his feet.

After a few moments of companionable silence, he asked, "bad dream?" With another look at me. Not that I was looking at him or anything.

"Not too bad." I clarified. "Can't remember most of it. Why?"

"Muttering." He pointed out in that oh-so articulate way of his. "Twitching." This bothered me slightly, the muttering part, not him. Generally, we're very quiet sleepers. And we sleep in trees, so twitching doesn't happen much, plus judging by the way my sheets had been wrapped around me, it was probably more like 'thrashing.'

"Sorry I woke you."

"Don't be." Fang replied surprisingly quickly, and shifted ever so carefully. If he hadn't passed into the moonlight for the briefest second, I wouldn't have noticed. Wouldn't have seen how tightly his wings were pressed to his back, and that not a single feather stuck out from his shirt. After a long flight or sleeping, our wings sometimes poke through our shirts a bit, it's pretty common. Fang's weren't. In an instant I knew that I hadn't woken him up. Trying to keep the concerned expression I knew he would hate off my face, I shifted closer to him so our shoulders were barely touching and we were sitting with our backs against the walls.

"Wanna tell me about it?" I asked quietly.

He shook his head once, just a jerk from one side to the other.

I leaned over slightly, cracked the window open, and sat back to listen to the quiet murmurings of creatures outside. Fang wanted silence, and I could deal with that. What I couldn't deal with was his pain, clearly showed by me with his wings held tightly against him. Trying to make himself smaller, noticed less by the whitecoats.

"It's all good." I rested my head back and closed my eyes, listening to the peepers and sounds of the outdoor world. It was just the kind of comfort Fang needed and wouldn't admit to anyone, even himself. Just the uninterrupted silence of friends.

XXXXX

"…wonder if they'd kill us…"

"Go find a camera, Ang!"

"…so cute!"

These voices drifted, as irritating as the buzzing of a thousand bees, into my thoughts. They were dim, and it took me a moment to recognize them and to realize what was happening.

"If any of you get a camera for whatever reason," I said sleepily, "I will personally make your lives living hell."

Five pairs of feet scurried away, and I tried to fall back into the comforting dark, but somewhere nearby someone was using a lawn mower… Ugh. Stretching my arms forward, it took me a moment to realize why my back was so sore. I was leaning against the wall, with Fang head resting on mine. He was still asleep. Lucky. I was about to get up carefully and allow him to rest more while I chased after five irritating children who had gotten me up wayyy too early.

But that thought ended darned fast as something, a door, maybe? Slammed downstairs, and suddenly I heard Jeb's voice shouting mom's name. I jumped to my feet as if tasered, as did Fang. We took one look at each other, and crept around the air mattress and bookshelves to the hall where we were 'shushed!' by fellow flock members and Ella. They were leaning over the banister, trying to listen to what Jeb was now whispering frantically to mom. Fang and I met each other's eyes, then each of us blinked. Be on guard. All relaxed thoughts that had accumulated over the time at mom's had vanished.

"Nudge, stop tapping!" Apparently they knew how well we could hear AND how to block Angel (she was very put out), so Iggy was listening carefully and whispering what he heard aloud.

"He's talking to your mom…" He informed us, leaning over farther to get a better look. "Something about 'government' and 'spilling'…'parents."

I jerked like an electrical current had run through me. Fang placed his hands on my shoulders, calming me slightly. But the government and parents had rarely worked out for us, if ever.

"'Found out,'" Iggy continued, his eyes widening in fear and his mouth stretched into a tight line while he was listening. Then he gasped and stumbled backwards.

"What?" I whisper-shrieked to him, ready to grab his shoulders and shake whatever hell had come so freaking early in the morning out of him.

"Iggy! Stop blocking me!" Angel snapped, her hands on hips.

Various other cried of 'Iggy!' and the like until Ella waved them down.

"Iggy," she asked quietly, "please tell us what's wrong."

I watched him gulp, staring in Fang's and my general direction.

"Fang." He whispered. "His parents want him back.

XXXXX

**Author's note: the mention of Dr. M telling Angel a story about moths is a real one I read/heard somewhere, a legend about why moths are colorless. In short, there was a tragedy, and the world needed color. The butterflies were too vain to lend theirs, and so the moths sacrificed their beautiful colors to give the world something to admire.**


	24. Maternal Blessings

***EDIT* I changed this a little from the original, making Fang's mother a bit more awesome, the psycho stepdad a bit more believable, etc. etc. –Ivyflightislistening, March 12, 2011**

** Malabsorbent-technically I can, but I won't, so here's the next chapter :D**

** FreeSpirit329-thank you! Glad to know it's unique-ish**

** LovelyNBlue-I sort of think she must be an easy going person, as long as you keep your room clean. Ultimate mom type!**

** Queen of True Love-here's your update! You'll have time to say goodbye to Fang, don't worry… hehe, now I've done it. *ducks from flying vegetables***

** fangluver101-It's not one of those stories, don't worry**

** Gabriel Wolfe-thanks! When at a loss for what to say, always a good choice... what you said, that is. :D**

** Kara Nicole-couldn't agree more!**

** MaxRideRox-is now soon enough?**

** WCG-thanks, and yes I've met my fair share of crazy New Englanders… So far the dream is pretty much meaningless, but it might change later. Bad answer…**

** Mo-'cause they're screwed up parents? I dunno, working on that part…**

** Rainie16-thank you! Updating….**

** 1910tsuki-arigato! I did not know that, but thank you (which is kind of redundant here, but you get my point…) and glad you enjoyed it! And double review? Fantastic!**

** WishingToBeWinged, so am I, on the wing thing. Anyway, thank you! Ahh, technical difficulties, bane of my existence. If it wasn't for MaxRideRox my story would be so screwed….**

** Samz, thank you and I'm sorry about not updating sooner, I've been busy, just don't explode!**

** Correct, Tally, but read on anyways :D**

** So HUGE thanks to everyone! That's like, what, fifteen reviews? Wow, felt like more when I was reading them… Anyway, Harry Potter HBP movie came out! Such a fabulous movie. Yeah! And I started Percy Jackson series, just need book five! My nothing-to-read syndrome has been solved. For the moment. Luckily my mom has a house next door to my brother's bestie who has the fifth book because my mom will buy LEGO's but complain about buying books… Such is life ;) Now, I'll quit rambling so you can say your goodbyes to Fang, oops! I mean, umm, continue!**

"They want him back." Iggy repeated in a monotone. I had _never _heard Iggy use a monotone. It scared me, even as I was trying to process what he was saying. "And they know where we are."

I stumbled backward. My brain couldn't process what words had just left Iggy's mouth. For all I knew they could be Japanese or something, I mean, what the hell did "Fang's parents want him back" mean? The jumble of voices around me only escalated my confusion-

"_WHAT?_"

"God no!"

"Huh?"

"YOU'RE FREAKING KIDDING ME!"

"Do you even _want _to meet your parents?"

"Fang has _parents_?" And slowly, through the stream of words, I began to understand, like suddenly I had a Japanese translator in my brain. Or maybe it was the Voice at work, I wasn't sure, all I knew was that,

"Fang's parents want him back?"

I don't know how I did it, maybe mom was right and Fang was rubbing off on me, but either way the hollow tone of my voice, and my expression clearly resembled someone who had just seen a ghost. Everyone else didn't look much better. Iggy was still breathing harshly, his sightless eyes still looking stunned, Angel and Gazzy were clutching at each other like life support. Poor Nudge was clutching at her heart. When we were actually looking for our parents, we had expected it. When Iggy had left we had been torn apart, but we had expected it. To have something…Fang's _parents _sprung on us, me, was cruel. What if they were mean? What if they were working for the School? What if they wanted to seel him? What if they were imposters?

But what if they wanted him just the way he was, and were heartbroken that their son had been missing all these years? What if they had an actual home to offer him, with food, a bed, a shower, a house, a dog that didn't talk?

I dimly realized I was beginning to hyperventilate.

_What if he wanted to go with them? _

I couldn't say no if he wanted to lead a normal life any more than I could have made Nudge not go to the Day and Night School or the whitecoats all be preschool teachers. I already felt the ice wedge splitting my heart, returning from when he had left me before, I could already feel the cold despair washing over me as I realized, _Fang might not be coming back this time. _Despite what I had told him the night before, how I couldn't stand losing him, and what he had said, _he might just up and leave. _

I turned to look at Fang, the only one still quiet, standing behind me. He was leaning casually against the railing, face expressionless. However, he was opening his mouth slowly, to speak, when another door banged downstairs and Jeb, with mom close behind, came into view. It took a nanosecond for them to take in our faces and for mom to say,

"I guess you heard." There was nothing about bashing us for eavesdropping. "Why don't you come downstairs?"

Without realizing what I was doing, barely aware that my feet were moving, we trooped down the stairs in a silent procession. It was like a death march, and in the same mood, all nine of us managed to file into the kitchen and take seats. Fidgety seats, but seats all the same. All it took was one glance from me to mom when she put all her organization and leading capabilities into order. Mine were completely dysfunctional, for the time being.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Iggy listened in our conversation and relayed what he heard back to the rest of you." The silence answered mom's assumption. She continued, her eyebrows knit together in worry. Her eyes were trained on me. "But you may not have heard the whole story, so Jeb's going to repeat it all. Quickly."

Everyone noticed the urgency in her voice and the emphasis on 'quickly.' If Fang's parents were coming, it wouldn't take long. Immediately, and for once, all the attention my body was capable of was focused on Jeb. He looked slightly uncomfortable under our scrutiny, but continued on just the same. A lot of it passed right through my ears, the scientific stuff and how it would appear that Fang's parents had somehow tracked his records down and that they had unknowingly given him to the scientists at the School. During that part, I rubbed my hand on Fang's knee, noticing him tense up.

"…a man contacted me earlier today, about six in the morning." Jeb rubbed his eyes. "And, well, they know where you guys are. Apparently they've read your blog," he nodded toward Fang, though still avoided eye contact, as he had been doing the whole conversation. "I took a plane as soon as I heard, but they said they'd be here between eleven and twelve."

Jeb sighed, he had told us everything in a single breath. It had been that urgent, whether he cared or not. He could see it on our faces. But now the kitchen was silent as the grave. I keep seeming to make references to death…hopefully that's not a sign. My head was still reeling, so when Fang broke the silence, I jumped. Instantly, I felt a hand on my arm. His.

"Just them?" He asked quietly, but still demanding the attention of everyone in the room. "No government?"

"No government." Jeb confirmed. "Why?"

Fang shrugged, seeming completely at ease. Key word, 'seeming.' I could see the wings; tight against his back and the way he brushed his untidy hair into his eyes.

"He doesn't think that there is a need for more people to be embarrassed than necessary." Angel laughed suddenly, sounding so out of place in the funeral-like atmosphere. However, she did have my immediate attention and Fang didn't deny it. I didn't allow myself to look from him to her in hope, but I did listen to her next words.

"For, you know," she continued brightly, "when he asks what the hell they're doing barging in like they own the place."

I managed to crack a smile, not even noticing until later Angel's language. I knew he wouldn't word it (if Fang ever worded _anything_) that way, but he still would ask. Fang just doesn't beat around the bush; it's not his thing. I guess living fourteen years of having to threaten someone with their lives to get information does that to a person… I could still tell, though, that he was curious. Why had they come? Why now? How had they found him? I was asking myself the same questions, and wasn't succeeding in holding myself together half as well. Maybe it had been a mistake, and they wanted Fang because he was their kid, not because he was now a famous mutant birdkid who lived with other famous mutant birdkids. I had to swallow the knot in my throat then, and looked down at my hands.

"So they should be here any minute?" Ella asked, somehow keeping her voice steady and smooth. Even I wasn't that good. At the moment, it felt like my insides had been shattered into a million pieces.

If Fang left.

I didn't know how I could survive.

Well, we were all too tense to eat anything. I knew I would have thrown up, if I had managed to choke anything down in the first place, so the nine of us just wandered about the house, waiting for the mysterious parents to show up. I mostly walked from room to room, barely keeping a normal pace, as I watched mom straighten pillows and Nudge anxiously run a comb through her hair. More than anything I wanted to leap out the closest window and take to the air, but I didn't want to miss Fang's parents. Or him, when he left.

I didn't have to wait long. I had been sliding down the stair railing and running back up to do it all over again repeatedly when I heard the doorbell ring, then raised voices. I stopped halfway down the railing and pricked my ears…

"Kidnappers won't just answer the doorbell, Marita!" A male voice snarled, immediately putting my senses on hyper-alert. This is gonna sound crazy, but with the minor threat that wasn't actually a threat, I managed to completely mask my rollercoaster feelings from everyone else. What can I say? Being threatened is normal. For me, anyway. Normalcy is easier to adjust with.

"I bet the…" the male voice paused, probably reading the small 'Martinez' sign next to the door, "MAHr-TIN-EZZes know what they did. They're Hispanic. Weird that it's in such a nice neighborhood-bet they killed the owners to traffic kids through here."

I immediately disliked him.

"They're probably nice people." A quiet woman's voice said quietly, though she didn't sound very argumentative.

"Nice people don't kidnap children."

"Mom!" I called, jumping down from where I was on the railing and walking into the kitchen where mom was talking with everybody. Or trying to. Nobody else spoke, so it was mostly her talking to herself. They all looked at me when I walked in.

"What is it, Max?" Mom asked, trying to sound all calm and cool and collected, and was actually pretty good about it. But you know that saying, the eyes are the gateway to the soul? I could tell she wasn't. Plus, she didn't really need to ask, I was pretty sure everyone knew what it was.

"Just some people standing on the porch," I mused, grabbing a glass of water, "you know, just debating whether you're a kidnapper or not. Or whether you 'consciously' kidnapped children or if it was an accident."

"Those are not my parents." Fang muttered while everyone, even Nudge, who looked about to cry, stifled laughter. I took another sip of my water, waiting.

Three…

Two…

One…

Heavy knocking started up on the door. It sounded like they were trying to break in.

"Toldja." I muttered darkly as mom ushered us all into the living room. Ever since Angel had announced what Fang was thinking, had all developed a rather cold front to these so-called parents, waiting for another DC fiasco. Iggy was especially skeptical, as who was the only one whose parents we'd found (mine and Fang's were obviously accidental) and you remember how that turned out.

"Yes…Angel, you sit right there, with Total and Akila in your lap." Mom positioned Angel just as a photographer would. Angel rolled her eyes. Mom seemed to be trying to go out of her way to impress Fang's 'parents' (or maybe not, according to him) and apparently she hadn't caught on to the fact that _nobody looked happy that they were there. _She was still caught up in the idea that it was our dream to discover awesome parentals. I stood between Fang and Iggy, with Ella on the pyro's other side, all of us leaning against the wall in a rigid line. Fang glanced at me and was about to speak while mom positioned Nudge and a protesting Gazzy, but then she turned to us with slightly narrowed eyes.

"You four look like you're on death row!" She snapped. I raised my eyebrows, trying to keep from exploding, like she was.

_Fang won't go with his parents. Fang won't go with his parents._

The knocking sounded again, and the obnoxious male shouted, "hello?" and mom called "one moment!" we exchanged a look.

_Fang…_ I mouthed. He didn't reply, but his lip twitched and he shifted a bit closer. My breathing accelerated. What would I do without him? He'd promised! He couldn't-well, he could. I wouldn't stop him-after all, we visited my mom; he could go with his parents. I would just die inside when he did.

My mom pulled the screen door back, then unlatched the heavier wooden one, to reveal a domineering male presence standing with his hands in fists, and a woman who looked completely nonplussed, staring not at my mother, but at the guy, who was probably one of those people who went around asking, "do you know who I am?" when people displeased him.

I don't know what they were expecting. Some gray haired druggie who hadn't shaved in weeks, maybe? A zombie? The FBI? All quite possible, judging my his expression, but definitely not my Hispanic, normal-looking, smiling mom with an apron on and the smell of cookies still wafting around from the night before.

"Hello, sorry about that. I was just cleaning the kitchen." Mom had her mask back on, surprisingly better than I had expected. I let out a rattling breath I hadn't realized I was holding in, and felt Fang's hand briefly touch my own, but I couldn't look at him. My eyes were glued on the two people standing, rather stiffly, in the doorway. The first person I saw was the man, because he was kinda hard not to notice, and he looked nothing like Fang. Yeah, they were both part human, it ended there. His skin was hard, tanned, leathery, and though I still knew I was stronger than him, the size of his muscles was foreboding. A mop of pale brown hair fell into hard blue eyes that were already staring down my mom like, Kidnapper? Seriously?

The woman was a different story altogether. Fang had a double take. Maybe a bit more than two, actually. Quadruple take or something. Dark, almost black hair, was cut in a short pixie cut, that looked like she had done it in a hurry, but the messiness suited her. Night sky eyes widened as she locked eyes with Fang, her reality male twin. She had his olive toned skin, and was even dressed in dark blues and purple. Up until she saw Fang, she had been glaring with a very familiar expression at Macho Man.

"Wanna explain what the hell is going on?" Iggy hissed into my ear at a tone meant only for me. I didn't look away from either Fang or the woman, but replied in the same hushed voice.

"Woman looks exactly alike." I paused. "Minus being female and short."

Iggy sucked in a breath.

The woman took a deep breath and pushed in front of the frozen guy. "No, I'm sorry for intruding." The woman stuck out a tiny hand and shook mom's. "You see my…husband," she sounded very reluctant to say the word. Fang and I exchanged a glance. "Came across some of my files, and thought it might be best to… this is awkward. Introductions first. I'm Marita Romanov. This, er, he's Robert Blanche."

"Valencia Martinez," mom smiled reassuringly and waved them in so the pair could stand awkwardly by the doorway to the living room. "And this is my family of sorts, and a good friend. Jededaiah Baker," Jeb waved, "Angelina," Angel had said that she preferred Angelina to Angelica, so there you go. "Tiffany, Zephyr, Jack, Nick, and Max."

The pair looked at each other. Then the man turned to us and asked mom,

"Really?"

Mom nodded slowly as if this was the stupidest question she had ever heard. I guessed her tactic. If they were Fang's parents, they would know we were lying. If they weren't, they would be in a really uncomfortable position.

"Well I don't believe you!" He thundered suddenly, and began to walk forward. I stepped right up to him, clearing the small room before he could reach mom and stopped right in front of him.

"Actually," I said, my voice as venomous as the snake that had bitten me. "I don't know what you're doing here, but I think you're being very rude! This is a meeting!"

"Meeting?" He growled. "For what? Kidnappers Anonymous?"

"No, actually." I snapped. "Cooks Anonymous, my best friend Jack runs it!" I gestured to Iggy, "with the help of my mom, and we were in the middle of discussing whether tomatoes or ketchup is better-"

"For kids." Iggy interrupted quickly, coming to stand beside me. I exhaled. Where I had found 'Cooks Anonymous' was beyond me, and I would probably have screwed up badly if Iggy hadn't filled in. I didn't know squat about cooking. I brushed his arm to let him know. "You see," Iggy continued, "there has been debate about whether the nutritional contents of organic ketchup is better for children than your average organically grown tomato. Ketchup has more ingredients and sodium, good for growing people, but tomatoes are naturally the healthier option. However, most kids are repulsed by tomatoes. That's why my little sister Angelica and brother Zephyr are here. Angelica loves tomatoes and ketchup, but Zephyr hates tomatoes, which are actually a fruit, contrary to popular belief. Max's mother has been concerned about the dietary patterns of school lunches locally at Mesa High, so we're conducting our own study."

I had to hold back laughter, and I succeeded, even glaring daggers at the man, and saying politely, "but if you would like to join in our discussion, you'd be welcome."

Ahh, the virtues of lying on a dime. The Fang-a-like woman walked up to her husband and steered him towards the door.

"You see? Mistake, I told you it would be, but we learned something, and isn't that always good? Now I know you've always been right when you order tomatoes on your steak rather than ketchup." Her voice, though soft and quiet like Fang's, was persuasive all the same. "I'll meet you at the car, let me just make sure there have been no misunderstandings."

Soon enough, we were left with the stranger in the room. She wiped her brow, then glanced around the room again.

"Look," she said, her eyes landing on Fang. "I know this is weird, and judging by your blog, which I've read, unlike him," she cast a disgusted look out the window towards where her husband could be seen walking toward the car, and then at Fang again. Her dark eyes, only a shade lighter than Fang's, seemed to soften. "You must be debating whether to kill me or not right now. I know the names you gave are fake, and that Max is a girl." She nodded towards me. I didn't move. "He's under the impression that Max is a good, strong 'man name,' along with a lot of other false pretenses like that he could earn millions after figuring out that you're my son."

"I'm not related to him?" Fang asked in the same tone as his mother, sounding slightly disgusted at the very mention of the burly guy clambering into a car in the driveway.

She pulled a face. "God no."

Fang visibly relaxed, but I could still see the doubt flickering in his eyes. After a second he plucked up the courage and asked a very simple question: "Why?"

"Did I marry him? Well, I'm not proud of it," Fang's mom looked out the window as her husband honked the horn and glared through the window. "But he's rich and easily manipulated. I'm using him to get a degree. Then I'm buying a house out in Montana and hiring somebody to move my piano out there. _Then_ I'm going to start a big, messy, expensive divorce lawsuit. And then I'm severing all contact. That's my explanation."

I didn't expect Fang to reply, even as I walked back towards him, towing Iggy, but he finally decided on, "he deserves it."

Then we were back to silence. She glanced at Fang through her bangs, as he so often did to me, then muttered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean here to come crash 'Cooks Anonymous'." By her tone I knew she was aware of the lie. It heard myself snicker, despite myself. "But you see, I had been researching the topic for a while, had some information." The woman, Marita, shuddered as if the Arizona temperature had just dropped sixty degrees or so. "I still had the papers lying in some of my stuff, and I had looked into and was pretty much sure that you," she nodded to Fang again, "were my son, but then one day he caught me reading, and discovered what I had found out about the avian experiment and everything." Her eyes were shut tightly and her fists were clenched at her side, seeming unable to deal with her shame, and I couldn't help it. I pitied Fang's mother, even if she did want to take Fang with her.

"I tried to reason with him!" She exclaimed, still looking at her feet. "I did, really, but he was convinced you could earn him more money. I didn't know any other way to not let him do that, other than to go along with him and secretly screw his plan up." A rattling breath escaped her. "Which I did, and so now he thinks it was all a big mistake. He was born into his current financial state, it has nothing to do with his cranial capabilities. It makes him greedy."

The horn honked again. I really wanted to go out and hit that man. Slowly, everyone in the room was beginning to relax and listen to Fang's mom's story, even me.

"I should go," she glanced nervously out the window and waved slightly. "But, um, Fang, can I call you that?"

Fang nodded once.

"I'm sorry. I can't-"

"I don't want to. Nothing personal."

"Oh." She caught her breath, then lit up the room by smiling. I could see where Fang got it. "Like you said, nothing personal, but I would never offer. From the blog, and Max's books-"

"You read my books?" I couldn't help myself and exclaimed it suddenly. It's weird, okay, when that comes up in random conversation. Like, oh, hey, love your book.

"Yes. You have talent," she winked at me, then continued talking directly to Fang as if no one else was there. "I could tell you wouldn't want to leave. Oh, God, I'm gonna kill him." Again, Marita glanced angrily out the window to where her husband was honking the car horn. "You're all more of a family than anything else. I'm not going to try and wreck that." She shifted awkwardly. "Well, I'll be off, sorry about the interruption again. And how everything turned out."

She turned, but looked back in shock when Fang again surprised us all by thanking her quietly. She bobbed her head, smiling, before waving and hurrying out the door. My eyes followed her to the car where she snapped something at her husband, and climbed into the passenger seat until with a cloud of dust, they disappeared down the road.

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding in and sank to the floor. I was sad for Fang, it had been a bittersweet meeting, but I couldn't help the flood of joy in my heart.

_He hadn't lied. _I felt like I was flying as fast I could. _He wasn't leaving me._


	25. Tone it Down On the Fax!

**So I actually changed this chapter a bit, in my opinion there was a bit too much Fax. Don't kill me! It was just too mature for fourteen year olds as Harry no. I'd do Ron pointed out, and I couldn't sleep until I fixed it. If you want the old one, at the end of the story I'll post it just for fun. **

**Chapter Twenty-Five!!!! Half of fifty! One fourth of one-hundred! Wow, I really can't believe I've written twenty-five chapters… And another plus? 102 reviewers as I check right now! ONE HUNDRED-THREE! That's seriously cool, folks. Granted, I also didn't leave you all at a great spot. Apparently the last chapter was good, though it wasn't my favorite, so I'll make it up to myself by having a great ¼ of 100 chapter! And the group hug was Kelsey Goode's idea, just FYI. I know there haven't been any videos in about two chapters, I think, and I don't know if there will be any in this one, but I'll add more soon! Perhaps Stripes will come in soon…**

**LovelyNBLue-of course!**

**FreeSpirit329-yes, I was thinking that'd be nice. Once she ditches the guy. Thank you!**

**Kelsey Goode-group hug… I will probably use that idea in this chapter. **

**Harry no. I'd do Ron.-that really means a lot! I like nailing it ;) glad you enjoy it, I'll try to update more often**

**CHSMR-extremely soon… is this soon enough?**

**Rainie16-I'd never take Fang away from Max. I'd kill myself ;)**

**1910tsuki-the wonder of Harry Potter…haha, thank you!**

**Mo-I bet so, too…**

**Kara Nicole-nice. Don't break anything, which is all I do when I dance :D**

**Commencing. I love that word. I hope Samz didn't explode… haha, here's the next chapter!**

Have you ever, like, I dunno, had something that you really hated, and then it got cancelled? Ella used to have to take piano lessons, she told me, and so when mom finally let her quit, she said she was sooo relieved she didn't know what to do with herself. Or maybe your friend really wanted to take you to a dance, and you didn't want to go, but the school burned down, though maybe I'm the only one who would be happy about that… Anyway, if you have, you must have a small sense of how I felt after the car drove away. Well, I guess it wasn't just me because as soon as they left, Nudge came flying into Fang, squished him back into the wall, chattering her mouth off the whole time.

"OhMyGodI'mSooooGladYouDidn'tGoWithThem,Fang!'Cause,Like,YourMom SeemedReallyNiceButIWouldn'tWantYouToLeaveAndYouDidn'tSoIFeelSortaBadButIJustThoughtYouShouldKnowI'mGladYou'reStillHere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I had to laugh at Fang's expression as Angel mimicked Nudge, though without the audible theatrics, and even more so when Iggy shooed them away saying,

"C'mon kids, shows over, give the anti-hug emo kid room to breathe." Which was Ig's own way of showing relief, and then Fang kicked him, so I knew they'd be all right. Gazzy shuffled over, trying to seem all mature, but when Fang met his eyes and held out a hand, the Gasman high-fived him like it was his own hug.

"Iggy?" I said, my mouth beginning to get a little sore from all my smiling, but I couldn't stop. I mean, Fang was staying. He didn't go with his mom, he stayed. With me. Well, and the Flock, but I'm only me, so that's how I saw it.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for covering me back there." I laughed again. "I probably woulda screwed up that cooking part."

He laughed, too, and dodged another kick from Fang. "You _definitely _would have. Seriously. You'd say, like, tomatoes and ketchup on toast or something."

"Some people eat ketchup sandwiches." I defended, getting to my feet.

"Yeah, three year olds."

"Okay!" Mom's voice carried over the racket. "I know you're all happy and everything, but Fang and Iggy, if you're going to continue to kill each other, please do so outside. Nudge, Angel, please pick up the magazine box you spilled over while sprinting across the room, Gaz, that's gross." I coughed, as a minor but still nuclear wave hit us as the Gasman grinned, not at all sheepishly.

"Gasmasks!" I exclaimed, exiting the room with everyone else. "Poison Control Center, we have a problem."

"It's _Houston_, we have a problem."

"It could be-"

"Iggy and Max! Shut up!" Ella smacked us both on the back of our heads, laughing all the same. I rolled my eyes, but complied. After aiming another kick at Iggy's shins, of course.

"What is up with people and picking on the blind kid?" Iggy howled as mom ushered us through the small hallway and out into the yard where we spooged out of the house in a great laughing mass of feathers and human.

"Yeah, 'cause you're so defenseless." Fang muttered, brushing dirt off his knees.

"Maybe I am." Iggy sniffed. I rolled my eyes and fell back into the grass. Until I was lying, somewhat uncomfortably, on my back, I didn't realize how heavily I was breathing. Like I was a measly human and had just run a triathlon. Or I was myself and I had just flown from Upstate New York to Mexico. I concentrated, making myself slow my lungs…

_Gee, Max. _I told myself. _Way to nearly hyperventilate. _

And then, just as I had managed to get oxygen to my brain, a motorcycle revved by, doing that 'brum, brum' thing which made me jump to my feet and have to start all over again.

"Max," Gazzy, whether by hearing it so often or his mimicry, said my name in just the same tone as Iggy or Fang when they were exasperated with me. He was looking up at me from over his little mound of dirt (???) and rolling his blue eyes. "Take a chill pill."

I snorted, ignoring Iggy snickering and repeating, "yeah, Max, take a chill pill. Or five. Hundred."

"How many times has my paranoia saved your sorry butt?" I asked the Gasman, laughing quietly all the same. It was totally _not _funny when Iggy or Fang told me to take a chill pill. Gazzy on the other hand? So cute. And yes I said 'cute.' If Ella ever read this she'd be proud.

Gazzy, eyes turned back to his dirt pile, began ticking off on his fingers slowly, before finally giving up and saying, "I dunno. I can't count that high, but seriously, this isn't gonna work if you scare all the voles away."

I refuse to say that I wasn't worried when Iggy's face lit up, Fang rolled his eyes, and Angel glared at her brother from Ella's lap because I would be lying.

"That's mean, Gaz!"

"Mind explaining what's mean, Gazzy?" I crept to his side and looked down at his little dirt mound. He snuck a glance at Iggy, chatting casually with Ella but I knew also listening to us, who bobbed his head once. I ignored it.

"Well, Max. So, it was completely innocent, 'k?" He looked at me for confirmation. Sighing heavily, I nodded. "Right. I am guiltless, you can't prosecute-"

"We're not in court, Gasman." I informed him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Now tell me before I tell mom the house is about to blow up."

"But it's not!"

"She doesn't know that." I winked at him, even as he realized the small threat. Small because I'd never turn him in to mom, he'd sooo be dead. Otherwise, I don't think it'd be too small.

"Fine. Well," Gazzy gestured to the hole and bent down to eyelevel to look into the dark hole. I mimed him, but didn't see anything but a small trail of hopefully not gunpowder. I sent a brief prayer to any deities that may exist. "So, Angel rigged up this vole for me, see? And it ran through these tunnels with a little box I attached to his back, completely harmless. I took it off when I was done, so it wasn't mean." He stuck his tongue out at his sister. I ruffled his hair. "But now there's this trail of gunpowder," shit. Uh, I mean, crap. Dang and blast. Shucks. Darn. "Through this abandoned trail of rabbit burrows. I heard your mom say on the phone to some game warden guy that a flashflood had knocked out the rabbits, but now she was pretty sure some snakes were entering the immediate area." He sounded like a little kid playing battleship or some other war game. I had to remind myself that he was just a little kid, only eight. I found myself rubbing his back slightly. "And so Angel cleared the snakes out, it wasn't hard, but she said they wanted to come back. Anyway, my point, as soon as I light the trail, the burrows and such will all blow-which, but the way, will be _soo_ cool, but-"

"Attention, all passengers who wish to remain in one piece should vacate the immediate area!" Iggy announced in some deep, serious voice he probably got from the _Titanic _movie or something. Why had he watched the _Titanic, _may I ask you? I have no idea, it's not like he likes romances or anything… And it was a very visual movie, which he hates. Well, maybe he got it from a different movie. Either way, it worked, and so we all scrambled to the porch to watch (or in Ig's case, listen) to Gazzy leave a little trail of powder away from the hole in the ground and toward the woods. Giving us all thumbs up and a huge, gap-toothed, eight year old grin, he struck a match and placed it on the gunpowder.

Well isn't that reassuring. I had almost thought that my two favorite pyro's were now above matches. He rushed over to us; face flushed with excitement, and started a brief countdown, joined shortly by Iggy.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One!"

It wasn't a very loud boom, but there were sudden firecracker sounds erupting all over the yard and little chunks of dirt were thrown into the air.

"Mad awesome!" Total barked in excitement, putting his paws on Fang's knee for a better view. Fang's expression=priceless.

They were all over the yard, little land mines making little 'spiff'ing noises and making small dust clouds. It was over pretty fast, maybe eight seconds of action, but even I'll admit it was cool.

"Gazzy," Ella said seriously as the two pyro's high-fived. "Please, please, promise me that you'll never work for terrorists."

Gaz giggled, but shook his head.

"I promise. So long as that includes Max." Then he dodged as I swiped at him, laughing the whole time. I had to grin. It had been so long since I had seen him laughing so much, the nice change to constantly being hunted was good for him. Angel and Nudge, too. Granted, all three were very flexible, but I could tell they were happy. And Total was with Akila, so that toned down on his talking and presence, both of which were sometimes overbearing. However, even though I loved mom and Ella dearly and wanted everyone to be happy, I felt a little nervous. Aside from Anne's and the E-House, we had now been in a singular place for the longest amount of time. Permanent homes make me nervous, and if we were to be attacked, I didn't want to be anywhere near my defenseless human family.

"Fly?" Fang's breath brushed past my ear, even with the singular word. I grinned, anticipating the feeling of sheer freedom that few others would ever experience, and got to my feet.

"Nice show, Gaz. Fang and I are gonna go for a flight, behave for mom. She and Jeb are inside, talking, so don't be too loud, okay?" I brushed the dust from my jean cut-offs and faced the Flock and Ella. "No big explosions, Gaz and Ig. Ella, please make sure that they listen. Nudge, no shopping-"

"Yeah, you've told us a hundred times." Iggy rolled his sightless eyes and nudged Ella's shoulder. "See what a paranoid maniac she is? You're so lucky you don't live with her."

I kicked his shins.

"Okay, okay!" He protested, even as Ella laughed. I glanced at Fang, and we began to walk away, slowly unruffling our wings, but his voice still carried. "Just keep it PG and keep the Fax to a minimum."

Fang and I froze, slowly; I turned to see Iggy with an evil smile on his face. I did notice, however, that I had moved behind Ella slightly. Smart boy. I wouldn't hurt Ella.

"What?" Fang asked, his voice deathly cold. Kind of creepy, if you know what I mean.

"You heard me. A mix of your names, since you're together and everything. Don't blame me, your stupid fans came up with it. Fax. Mang. Either work."

Fang and I exchanged another brief look.

"If you say that again, I will kill you." I said slowly, furious that my glare was useless on him. The others were watching the exchange quietly, and that better not have been a hidden smile, Nudge.

"And then I will bring you back from the dead." Fang continued in his quiet voice. "And kill you again."

"Is that a threat?"

"No," I snarled, "it's a promise. One last thing, I was looking at Fang's blog last night, so before we go, just wanna warn you…"

"Keep the Eggy to a minimum." Fang continued for me. I grinned evilly as both Iggy and Ella had their mouths drop open, even as Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel began rolling around on the grass in laughter.

"You know, a mix of your names." I examined my fingernails, tres casuale, "Or it could be Illa, but I think the fans prefer Eggy. Except for when they want to kill Ella and marry Iggy, but whatever." I shrugged, and taking pleasure in their sheer terror as only a very compassionate leader can, I leapt into the air with Fang right behind me.

Once high enough so we wouldn't be immediately noticed by the naked eye, and at a comfortable height, I noticed Fang shake his head and mouth a word.

_Fax._

"Who the hell came up with that?" I demanded suddenly, whirling to look at him. "Who wastes their time rereading my books and your blog a million times, pledges eternal loves, and names us?" **(A.N. hehe, me… not the eternal love thing, though.)**

"Apparently our so-called 'fans.'" Fang sighed. "Least it has a better ring than 'Eggy', though."

"Yeah, we're named after a machine!"

"Mang?"

"Like Manga, that art form." I rolled my eyes for about the millionth time. I wasn't that peeved, really, about the fans. More Iggy and his senseless teasing.

"He's soo gonna pay." I continued threateningly. Fang looked up at me, then tucked his wings so he swooped upwards and sideways to come as close as he could. I saw him nod twice, total confirmation. I could nearly hear the gears in his dark mind working on revenge, or maybe those were just mine… Unfortunately, evil gears of mine are easily distracted, often by sunlight glinting off raven black wings and Fang's eyes. Eyes so similar to his mother's. I wanted him to be happy, truly, I did. But I didn't know how I would have fared without him.

Fang took one sideways glance at me and seemed to read my mind.

"Max." He crooned my name softly, spinning to hover in front of me, so now we were stopped, somewhere high above some forest. It made my heart stutter, especially seeing on how close he was…

And how close I was to losing him. I looked down.

"We should go…" I muttered, but even as I turned, Fang reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling him right up against his chest.

"Max." This time he said my voice with a slightly harder tone, the one when I knew he wanted to tell me something important. Previously, I had shrunk from it, but now I waited, looking through my wind-tossed hair into his eyes. "I promised. Stop doubting me."

"Sorry." I murmured, refusing to put too much emotion in my voice. "But she was nice, your mom. I would have let you gone with her-"

"Maximum Ride. Let me speak, dammit."

I drew away, just enough to place my hand over my mouth.

"Care to repeat those words, Fang?" I began to rummage in my pockets. "Hold on, I think I have a recorder around here somewhere…"

Suddenly he rough, hardened hands were holding my head between them so I could stare directly into his dark eyes. Our wings still beat in unison, barely missing each other as we flew so closely.

"I. Am. Never. Leaving. You." He said it slowly, accentuating each word as if to be sure I heard. "I promised, Max. You couldn't order me away. Yes, she was nice, but she wasn't _you._"

My eyes looked down again.

"She's your mom…"

"And I've done fine without her for fourteen plus years." Fang interrupted. "Now, I will never leave you. Ever. Max," Fang seemed to choke for a moment, his wings pausing in midair. Instinctively, my eyes turned toward his face. "I…I…I love you, Max. You have been my best friend for as long as I remember, you were always there. A perfect leader, you helped us all. And I never properly thanked you for it-"

"Don't damage your vocal chords." I muttered, trying not to sound surprised by the sudden word usage. Not that I wasn't pleased, I was beyond it. It was just too good to be true.

"I'm here till you don't want me, Max." Fang finished, his voice barely discernable over the wind up in the air, but making me wrap my arms around him suddenly and hold him tight anyway.

"Don't go." I sniffed into his warm, black shirt. "Ever."

"I promise."

I hiccupped once, a grin playing on my lips. Fang didn't lie, I knew that. He wouldn't leave me, he was the one person I could cry near, who would hold me and understand. Who knew that I didn't always have a plan, but didn't tell anyone because he knew what would happen if anyone else did.

"Thanks." I whispered, planting a quick kiss on his lips, and laughing when he pulled me closer to kiss me harder.

"No problem." He murmured, leaning away but brushing my tangled hair from my eyes and behind my ears. A throaty chuckle escaped him. "We'd better hide our thoughts well before we get in range of Angel again."

Oh God yes. I yawned, and we slowly began to spiral downwards until we landed in a stunted forest and sat in the coils of some roots.

"That child is more trouble than…"

"Iggy and Gazzy in a pyrotechnician's store?"

"What's a pyrotechnician?" I murmured, leaning into his warm arms. Just a hug.

He shrugged. "Bet Gaz and Ig know. Either way, it's true."

Our breathing, though still crazed, was getting better. However, I could still feel my heart beating totally out of whack, and I knew Fang would hear it. He sighed heavily and leaned his head on my own.

"Max," Fang whispered my name again after some time of just sitting there. Again, I felt like my eyes were beginning to drift close. I hoped it wasn't a new power of Fang's, making me fall asleep. That would be problematic.

"Mmh?"

"Just saying it."

"Why?" I yawned. My eyes closed again.

"Your name. Beautiful."

I almost convinced myself that the last part was just the whisper of wind in the trees, an acorn or something falling. But it didn't escape me, even as I couldn't escape sleep.

_He'd called me beautiful._

******

Have you ever been abruptly shaken awake by the literal shuddering of the earth? This was a first for me as I jumped to my feet and spread my wings next to Fang. It wasn't earthquake shaking, but the little stones on the rocky forest floor (I know, sounds weird, but we were in sparse tree growth in a desert-y area) were bouncing up and down, and the smaller tree branches were shaking. I looked at Fang who looked up. I nodded, and as one we rose above the trees, careful to stay low all the same.

Behind us stretched the same scraggily trees for miles, so we swooped forward to when the forest ended very suddenly at the edge of a cliff.

"Look!" I jumped back, if that's even possible, in the air, leaning over the edge. Below us in a low valley, galloping around bushes and up the side of a small hill, were countless wild horses, running with abandon. One, brown and white spotted, clearly led the pack, peck, herd, thing past a canyon and over a small rise, where another dark brown one herded the stragglers off after the group. He had a stripe down his back and was tossing his black tail back and forth in haste. Now that I saw the wild horses, I was surprised I hadn't known what they were. There were whinnies and snorts sounding throughout the group, and tiny shrieks from a small, long legged one.

I pointed towards it, and Fang's eyes followed my finger. It was a baby, I don't know horse talk so it could have been called a chick for all I know. There was a small glimmer in his eyes.

"Angel would so love this."

He nodded. "Nudge and Gaz, too."

Come to think of it, Iggy would as well. I mean, it was so cool seeing these wild horses, not held by the conformists of society just winging it across the desert and dry riverbeds. Fang looked like he shared my opinion.

"There's another!" He gestured toward a small black one, another baby being nudged from behind by its mother. Come to think of it, all the young ones (I counted seven) were all in the general center of the group. Movement caught my attention, but it was just Fang, reaching into one of his pockets, where he pulled out a digital camera. I didn't ask where he got it, for all I knew he had taken it back from Itex with the computer, or how long he had been using it. I did, however, ask,

"Wanna go get some shots for the others?"

He gave me a look, then slid off the edge of the cliff, I just behind him. In the air, we easily caught up with the wild horses.

They were mostly sandy or muddy browns, but then there were the few spotted ones and even a striped one. I knew that must have taken breeding, so it must have escaped from a farm or something. Then there were a few white and gray ones, but none seemed bothered as we ducked down to fly next to them. Maybe they thought we were just really damn ugly birds, or maybe they hadn't learned to fear flying humans, either way, Fang kept clicking that little button. I laughed, rolling over in the air to circle to the other side and get a look at the spindly little horses. With their tiny little bodies and out of proportion legs, they were just too cute. I made sure Fang got a close up on them.

"Isn't this great?" I shouted to Fang, who turned in the air to look at me and nodded enthusiastically. Again, I laughed as we flew alongside the horses until the sunset and they wheeled away into a canyon. I came to a landing beside Fang at the edge as we watched the last brown one, same as earlier, heard the last one in behind the rest. As I turned again to look at the area surrounding us including a blood red sky, beautiful desert, I sighed. Fang raised his eyebrows.

"Doesn't it suck, having a curfew?" I'd never had to deal with one before where I couldn't stay out and enjoy myself as long as possible. Not that it really happened very much, but when I did get to see Angel Falls (In Venezuela, Angel loved them) or hot springs in Antarctica, I liked to stay a while.

Fang laughed and pulled me in for a short kiss before breaking away until he just held my hand.

"Nothing major, don't worry." He winked. "But yeah."

"Wonder what's for dinner?" I mused as we took to the air. "If Iggy allows us anything. We didn't really tone it down on the Fax, as he asked."

Fang smirked.

"Granted," I continued. "He doesn't need to know about that, and it's not like we took off our clothes or anything. Just kissing. Plus I'd like to see him refuse us food."

"I think the term nowadays is 'making out.'" Fang added. "But I wonder how the Eggy turned out." I laughed again, ducking in for a minute to kiss the top of his head before spiraling upwards with him right behind me.

*******

Dinner was a large affair taken place out in the front yard (after the dust clouds had cleared) of homemade tacos and lemonade. Angel kept the mosquitoes away and instead told them to chase Total for a good five minutes. He was being mean to Magnolia again. ("You ugly tramp!") But when we finally finished everything and were licking dripping ice cream cones, Iggy used a very sly tone, which I quickly kicked him for. I knew what he meant; luckily it was just Fang, Ella and I who did though. Mom would have killed him.

"So," he began, "What did you two do today?"

Again, I kicked him and rolled my eyes. Fang chucked the camera at his head.

"Ow! What the heck was that for? And don't throw your camera! Cannons are expensive."

"Yeah, well they've got a test rating of being able to drop into ten feet of water… or get thrown at rocks." Fang said calmly.

"Ouch, Ig." The Gasman laughed, punching Iggy's shoulder. "I'll look at your pictures."

Then another ten minutes was spent as they passed around the tiny camera and 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the pictures. Then I did, even though I had already seen the horses, and I think that if Fang grows up, he should be a photographer. There were some headshots, ones of the group, single ones, plenty of the little horses, and even a few of me.

And it totally made up for the two adults coming to the house earlier.

Fax.

Sheesh.


	26. The Vanessa Crisis

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**Deleted chapter twenty-five and replaced it with a better one! Just FYI.**

**And I finished this at 11:42 pm the evening after I started this. 12:27. Argh, I hate clocks. **

**MaxRideRox-I'm thinking that he'll definitely come up again, but when, I don't know. I liked the new chapter better, two.**

**Maddy-glad you liked it so much!**

**Harry no. I'd do Ron-I agree, I have NO idea where all that came from, but nothing is ever gonna go farther than that and home videos are coming soon!**

**Rainie16-thank you! I should be sleeping now (12:27) but I know I won't be able to until I write something down, but hopefully I'll have an update by sometime tomorrow (or today? It's 12:27 am, but whatever, I'm on vacation)**

**So everybody! Two polls, I think, for when/if you review. Please review, that would be nice :D Write an idea for next few chapters. It can be anything, totally random (pancake eating contest?) or make sense. Either one. **

**12:29. Hehe. Least it's not 12:30. I hate any time ending in 30, probably cause on school nights I generally try to fall asleep before 10:30… Random. I'm probably on a lack-of-sleep high, but I can't sleep anyways…**

**And vote on whether you would like more POV's from an other character's perspective (Fang, Total, Dr. M, Ella, Gazzy, anyone, even the lowlife guy from Bertucci's.)**

My mouth stretched into a yawn, which lasted a few seconds, and then I blinked a few times to clear the sleep from my eyes. It was another morning, apparently and either Iggy or mom was busy because something smelled fantastic. I stretched carefully, then rolled to the side of my bed-

A peep escaped my mouth as I rolled off whatever soft surface I was currently laying on and onto the floor, and immediately I kicked the blanket aside and staggered to my feet, ready to kill something.

Then I remembered.

Smart Max.

I had fallen asleep on the couch the night before, as had Fang on the armchair in the corner. I took a look at it now, but either Fang was sleeping invisible or he had gotten up, because I couldn't see anything. Granted, there were no sounds of breathing in the corner, and I heard soft voices in the direction of the delicious smelling food. I took a stumbled step forward, but forgot the coffee table was there and I fell again as I whammed my shin into it. Ugh. It was not looking out to be a bright day. The voices from the kitchen quieted until I heard Iggy ask oh-so-innocently,

"Did you just fall, Max?"

"No." I grumped quietly, knowing both boys could hear. "I walked into a coffee table. There's a difference." Rolling my eyes irritably, I walked into the kitchen.

"I heard you fall off the couch, though." Iggy continued as I collapsed onto a chair and dug my head in my hands. I chose to ignore him. And seriously thought about taking sleeping pills.

"What time is it?" I asked around a yawn.

"Seven."

"Why're you up?" I asked Fang, shooting him a look from across the table. There were shadows under his eyes, but other than that he just looked his typical expressionless self on an early morning.

"Heard Ig."

"And I," Iggy, also yawning, "am up because around one, Total got into an argument with Magnolia right next to my head. Then an hour later, he had gotten back into the house after I threw him out, quite literally, and he started to snore in my ear. Purposely. So I kicked him out this time and fixed the lock on the door, finally collapsing in bed around 2:30. Fang, pass the salt, will you?"

Fang did. Iggy yawned again and shook his head before flipping some eggs over and salting them.

"But he started howling, no idea how you all slept through it, half an hour later, so at three I let him back in. Then Magnolia started barking at him, so I put her out, which she was fine with until I fell back asleep and at 5:30 was woken up by Total writing a serenade for Akila and forgot that Magnolia was outside and so I made him go outside _again. _Then they got into a fight, Magnolia barking and Total yelling about how his treatment was degrading and that it was cruel and unjust for him to be 'subjected to the wrath of the night,' and I quote that."

I snickered, despite my closed eyes. "What next?"

"So then I got up and ran outside and started yelling at him and informing him that, in fact, he is a dog, and he can suck it up. Besides, what wrath is he gonna face that we haven't already?"

"A skunk."

"Nice call, Fang." Iggy managed a laugh, even though he looked ready to sleep in the frying pan. "Anyway, finally, I managed to shut him up by shutting him in the basement because it's still inside, and I fell asleep. Until he had to go outside for his doggy business and started barking my name. I ignored him until he found a dog whistle, which I apparently can hear. This was about forty-five minutes ago when Fang got up officially and just looked at Total, and he walked outside. Dude," Iggy flicked a sightless glance at Fang. "You so need to teach me how to do that."

Fang sighed heavily. "Need eye contact, sorry." Then he rubbed his eyes wearily and leaned his head in the edge of the table.

"Do you have a logical explanation for getting up before lunch, Max?" Iggy continued, filling some of the morning silence in the small kitchen.

"I fell off the couch. Reason enough?"

"Liar."

I was about to roll my eyes (you have no idea how many times I do that daily) but I was too tired. Yes, you heard me right, too tired to roll my eyes.

"Fine." I sighed, giving in. "I slept, but it was one of those exhausting sleeps like that stupid ballerina story where they sleep all day and dance all night so their dad has to buy them new ballet shoes each morning. Though I can't do a pirouette to save my life."

Iggy laughed quietly while I just saw the corner of Fang's mouth twitch.

"Same." He muttered. "But ballerinas…?"

"Angel asked me to read it to her back in that toy store in New York."

"Before or after she 'convinced' that lady to buy her Celeste?" Iggy asked innocently. I managed a croaking laugh.

"Before. '_Get off where the fun is.'_"

Iggy turned on his heel to look in my general direction, Fang lifted his head. I sighed again, I had forgotten.

"Back when the Voice first showed up, that's what it told me." I closed my eyes and rested my head on my hands. "On the bus. Why we got off at the toy store of doom. Why you thought I had finally lost my crackers."

"Ah, we already knew that, Fangster and I," Iggy chuckled, "we didn't really need the confirmation."

Fang didn't bother to correct him. Even twitch in annoyance, just laid his head back down. I raised my head and cocked it to the side a little, thinking.

"Fang," I asked him. "Say something."

He opened his eyes slightly and looked at me, met my eyes, and blinked. Once. And closed them again.

Iggy rolled his eyes and turned the burner off, coming over to sit at the table and find out what was going on.

"Fang," I growled.

"Don't even start on your, 'as leader of the Flock' crap." Iggy interrupted before I could continue. "It never works, especially on him."

"It either works," Fang croaked quietly, "or it doesn't. No especiallys. Is this enough, Max?"

His voice did sounds off, rough. I bent over the table, a slight frown on my face, and placed my hand on his forehead before he could realize what I was doing. He jerked away as if stung, glared at me, then edged away.

"Fang," I coaxed him. "Let Iggy feel your forehead, you're really warm."

"It's Arizona." He protested weakly. "Of course," but then his voice broke off as he coughed violently. I whispered his name, and quickly moved over to rub his back while Iggy silently got up to get him a glass of water.

"Sheesh," Iggy placed his hand on Fang's forehead. "You _are_ hot. Over a hundred, I'd guess."

"I do _not _have a fever." Fang protested, though it wasn't a very good protest. His voice was still quiet, but earlier I hadn't thought anything of it because if he says anything, he's always quiet in the mornings. Especially if he gets up at 6:30 or something. It was kind of pathetic how quickly we always fall off our normal sleeping schedule at mom's house, I mean, when had I ever slept until eleven not at mom's?

"Sure." Iggy nodded, pushing three loaded plates of eggs and bacon on the table and to each of us. "Just take some Tylenol or something for now. If you don't want Dr. M to start fussing over you when she comes down, I suggest we wolf these down and go be productive by watching one of those videos." Iggy continued between shoveled mouthfuls of eggs. I made like him and quickly inhaled all six bacon strips.

Fang nudged his food around on his plate with his fork, before getting up and pushing his plate into the fridge.

"Fang," I narrowed my eyes at him as he shut it. "At least have one piece. Please?"

He shook his head again, coughed, and gestured to the living room.

I rolled my eyes, dipping my last bit of egg in ketchup and taking a sip of water before clearing my plate. While Iggy scrubbed the frying pan and spatula, I walked into the bathroom and rifled through the medicine cabinet until I found the Tylenol, where I nearly had to force-feed Fang a double dose. High metabolism, remember? Then I got him a large glass of orange juice to swallow the heinous bubblegum flavor and we went to sit next to Iggy on the floor. Somehow, he had already located the appropriate video and had slid it in.

"I turned the volume down a ton." He informed us. "So we won't wake up the others." Because, for some reason, we were up before the younger Flock members, which was generally unheard of at mom's house. He pressed play.

But to my surprise, Jeb's voice overrode the static as the screen turned gray and crackly.

"Hi Max and company," he said. I growled. "If you're watching this, I just wanted to inform you that the movies that would previously have been made were destroyed in a lab accident, so this is almost three months after Max and Fang first met Iggy. I tried to recover the last ones, but to no avail. Hopefully you'll find something out anyway."

"Who does he think he is?" I muttered darkly, almost to myself. Iggy rolled his eyes, and Fang managed an irritated cough. I could count on one hand how many times Fang had gotten sick. At the School, they had either vaccinated us or left us to rot which built up our immune systems surprisingly well for some reason. I guess 'cause we generally didn't get vaccinated; so it was either, fend it off or sucks to be you. Plus that and the fact they we hated any medicine, taking Claritin was a huge step for those of us who grew up to hate anything to do with science, and that includes medicine. I laid my hand atop of his on the floor and waited for the screen to stop crackling.

Slowly but surely, the waves on the screen formed shapes, eventually becoming clearer, but the crackling only faded away to a harsh spitting and screeching, as yet another mutant was tossed into our room. Segregation must have been well over, because they sure didn't mind tossing a cat mutant into the room with us, even though she was strangely skinny with longer than average limbs. As her cage landed beside Fang's, skidding across the shelf, she bent her head back and yowled. Alley cat on the back fence yowl.

"Stripes!" Iggy exclaimed suddenly, twitching on my other side. I was seated in the living room between the two boys, so I could easily see how happy he was to again hear his old friend. I, too, felt a brief glimmer of warmth in my heart to see her again in all her spotted skin, whiskered human nose, cat eared grace. Even Fang looked up and had his eyes widen the slightest amount. For him that was an equivalent to Nudge's tirade of "Oh my God! I can't believe it! This is crazy, but at the same time, so freaking cool! I never expected to see her again!"

The four year olds looked through their bars closely at the strange creature. It was obvious she didn't have any wings, he shirt was tight against her back, and none of us had seen any malformations on her bare arms other than the line of spots trailing from her wrist to her shoulder. Then there was the _tail, _whipping back and forth irritably in the cage. Stripes, though we hadn't known her as that then, turned her head almost 180 degrees to look at us condescendingly, narrowing her almond-like eyes at the three four year olds. Finally, Iggy, blunt as always, just had to chip in.

"You have spots." His voice was slightly high with nerves, but he was curious all the same.

Stripes rolled her yellow eyes and rasped her tongue around her mouth. "Well noticed, bird kid." I had nearly forgotten how hissy her voice sounded, even when she wasn't angry. A constant sore throat seemed to take place with her, though she could still sound cold and distant, or warm and welcoming.

"It's Iggy."

Fang rolled his eyes and touched Iggy's knee, back in the living room. _Smooth. _He seemed to be saying. Quite sarcastically.

"And who are the other mutants?" She talked around us, though from the camera screen I could see how her eyes flicked back and forth from Fang, the closest threat, to me, hunched as close to Fang as possible.

Iggy shrugged. "Ask them."

Then you could see my mouth open, but Stripes spat at me before I could even say anything. She was a fast talker, not like Nudge, but her words left her mouth quickly and effortlessly, she never slipped up and had interrupted the three of us more than once. Well, maybe she had interrupted Fang once, but he didn't talk much so there wasn't much she could interrupt.

"Maybe," she sniffed once. "I don't care." Then she turned on her haunches and sat staring at the wall, taking Fang's previous place.

Iggy laughed as his younger counterpart pointed out, "well, you asked who they were, so obviously you care."

"I _don't_!" She spat, spinning around and leaning forward in a crouch. The strange light glinted off her claws, unsheathed.

I watched myself nudge Fang through the bars of the cage. "Quite the personality disorder," I heard myself murmur, "don't you think?"

"Bipolar." The four year old nodded.

"Quite the possibility-"

An unearthly hiss escaped Stripes throat, even as her throat convulsed in a snarl. "Aren't you quite the pair?" She asked. "Well, stay that way. _I _don't need friends." Again, Stripes growled a warning, and turned again to curl up, just like a cat, though I hadn't known it at the time, and stare at the wall.

She did so for so long I thought she would bore holes into the wall.

"FANG!"

I jumped as if tasered, falling into Fang's lap than all three of us standing in defensive positions, even as Nudge came hurtling down the stairs with Ella in tow. Dear God. I looked up at the ceiling, than relaxed slightly and pressed pause on the TV. Nudge and Ella appeared to be in the midst of a heated debate, about what, though, I was unaware.

I wished to remain that way, but alas, it was not to be.

"Fang, sorry to scare you guys, but you weren't in your room and I heard the TV on and me and Ella were talking, so I assumed you were awake. Anyway, I was reading a magazine, and Vanessa Hudgens said that there was only one shade of black. Then I was like, no. Epic failure. And Ella wasn't sure, but when we woke Gazzy up to ask, he agreed with her! And then we thought that of all people, _you_ would know if there were different shades of black. Are there?"

Fang and I looked at each other; his eyes were sparkling as he turned back to them.

"Sure." He croaked, nodding. "Plenty." And then he fingered his black t-shirt as proof. I rolled my eyes, holding back a smile.

"You guys watching another video?" Ella asked, rubbing her eyes. "That's what it sounded like, though we weren't out of bed until we had to fix the Vanessa crisis. You should write about it in your blog, Fang."

Iggy nodded, settling back down, though deserting Fang and I for the couch, where he patted the cushion beside him. Ella plopped down, leaning back as if prepping for what she was going to see, and Nudge replaced Iggy on my other side. I pressed play, and we resumed watching the movie as if the 'Vanessa crisis' had never happened. I stifled a snicker, and pricked my ears.

My four-year-old mini, after a while, had edged closer towards Stripes. Finally, after maybe an hour (which we fast forwarded through), I plucked up the courage to clear my throat.

"Um, _Felis catus_ girl?"

"It's Stripes, bird girl." Stripes didn't move from her position.

"Yeah, call me Max. You're probably getting uncomfortable, on your knees, sitting like that." I shifted in my cage as if to address my point. "Why don't you turn around?"

"So I don't have to look at you."

Even at four, I was losing my patience with the hardheaded Stripes.

"You still have to smell us, don't you?" I growled. "And you don't offer us much choice, plus I must say that I think any one of us is more interesting than that white brick."

There was a moment of silence, when Stripes let out a hiss that could have been irritation as much as laughter, and then turned to meet my eyes. I didn't flinch.

"Fair enough, Max." She shifted her hands underneath her, as any regular cat would curl up. "But there's not much you can do. We're in a cage, either way."

"Than at least we can enjoy ourselves." Little Max sighed, sitting back and looking at Fang before turning her eyes to the doorway. Stripes nodded her head once, and the faintest of smiles touched her lips.

*******

**Welcome to Fang's Blog!**

**Visitor Number: A heck of a lot.**

**As your favorite black winged birdkid, I find it my duty to inform you of a serious crisis hitting today's media, brought to my attention by Nudge, who says 'hi.' Actually, she says a lot more than just 'hi' but I couldn't remember the rest of it. Anyway, she was reading a magazine at about 7:30 this morning, when I vital error came to her attention.**

**It would appear that Vanessa Hudgens believe that there is only one shade of black. **

**Ella suggested I inform you that this is not the case, nothing personal to Vanessa or anything.**

**So, just incase anyone was wondering, there is more than one shade of black. **


	27. Shes Funny Like That, So's the Gomervent

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

**118 reviewers! Tres fabulous. So happy I changed chapter Twenty-Five, I've been thinking about that a ton… And I had to put that black thing in there because it's true! As so many of you pointed out :D **

**Kelsey Goode-yes, it will come up, and yes, he's sick**

**MaxRideRox-soo true**

**Mo-yes, that's how I imagine Stripes! Thanks!**

**Kara Nicole-glad you do happy dances so much ;) **

**Glad you didn't explode, Samz. No need to hunt me down, just read the chapter :D**

**Maddy-Nudge Syndrome, it's catching! Maybe that's what Fang has…**

**Queen of True Love-thanks!**

**Rainie16-updating! Updating! **

**1910tsuki-so true!**

**dancingqueen114-thanks!**

**So I was at a bookstore the other day, and they had a HUGE section of used books for sale, all in nice condition, so you'll never guess which book I found marked down from $20 to $10… **_**Run For Your Life**_**! It's a JP book and co-authored by somebody, but regrettably, I forget his name. Anyway, really good book! About a detective in NYC trying to figure out a serial killer's motives and such, really good! My mom said she could never sleep after reading JP… Ah, well. Maybe I'm crazy :D But anyways, I bet you want me to stop rambling. But one more book! It's all about double-standards for women (yes, I'm a feminist) and is A. Funny, and B. Totally freaking true! I'd totally suggest it. **_**He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know **_**by Jessica Valenti. My sixth grade reading/science teacher told me I'd be a book reviewer in magazines when I grow up… maybe she's right. Haha, anyway, chapter twenty-seven! Glad you all liked the last two so much. **

I cringed slightly when I watched a multitude of Erasers squish into the tiny white room, pick the four of us (Fang, Iggy, Stripes and myself) up oh-so-ceremoniously, and throw our cages onto a little cart, not unlike the ones they use at airports for transporting luggage. Then, of course, there was the usual shebang of howling, spitting, cursing, hissing (brought to you by Stripes, Incorporated), and a general ear-shattering racket. Even with Ella, we turned it down.

The four of us tumbled out of our crates, tipped from a window ten feet high in a new arena. Maybe the other one was in use. Maybe someone had trashed it. Either way, it was slightly smaller, and circular. Instead of doors, there were large windows high on the walls. The room had a striking resemblance to _Star Wars _in that evil lair where they battle with people watching them. It was not a comforting resemblance, even though I knew I was safe in my mother's living room, sitting between Fang and Nudge.

Fang, Iggy, Stripes and I, quickly got to our feet. The three avian crosses, having done this before, immediately grouped into a tight circle so we were all facing outward with our backs protected. Stripes stood off to the side, and though she looked ready, there was something about her standing alone. Her feet were braced, claws unsheathed, and her eyes were already darting around the room. She'd been there before.

Over the loudspeakers, a crackling voice motored up.

"Mutants," it began. "Experiments. If you can understand what I am saying," the voice was slow in that irritating way obnoxious people sometimes talk to Iggy when they find out he'd blind. He's not deaf, folks, far from it. "Raise your hand."

My mini raised my middle finger and glared. Ella started cracking up behind me, and I was _sooooo_ glad that mom wasn't there to see that. When you grow up in a lab, your morals and language aren't very good, there's not much time for manners, so what can I say. Nudge looked at me, grinning, and I felt Fangs' hand on my knee and looked in time to see his mouth quirk into a half-smile. Either way, mom would have killed me.

Then brought me back from the dead and she'd give me a lesson on manners.

Anyway, then I was suddenly on my knees as a rock came out of nowhere and sent me sprawling across the floor. I looked just in time to see a window sliding shut, but my younger self was still getting up and ignoring Fang's help. There was blood smeared across my face, the rock apparently hadn't broken my nose, but it had caused a good scrape, and so now when I was hollering at the cameras and windows in a fury, I had to admit that I seemed kinda creepy. I mean, I was a taller than average four year old, screaming bloody murder with blood smearing down my face. Demonic, much?

The scientists had even tested on that.

"You will behave, mutant." The voice crackled, still sounding calm. "We will not allow-"

"I don't give a damn what you allow!" I hollered right back, even spitting at the closest window. Then, I was again pelted with a rock.

"The meaning of this test, mutant," you could tell by the voice that he was getting agitated. "Is to teach you something of history. Sit or I'll send an Eraser to taser you."

"Go ahead!" I snapped, remaining in my standing position until, surprise, surprise, it was Stripes you yanked me down. You couldn't hear what she hissed in my ear, but I listened and sat, if a bit irritably.

"Good mutants. Anyway, a brief history on our world for you. Many years ago, in a different continent than ours, their was the civilization of Rome. The Roman Empire prospered for many years, but where there is success, there is also crime."

From the confused looks we were giving each other, none of the four year olds knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I did now.

"And with crime comes punishments, as you mutants would know." He didn't bother asking for confirmation this time, knowing it would be a wasted effort. "And so, with some criminals, they would be stoned. This is a simple term for having stones thrown at you until you died. You may be wondering why you are in this different room from last time, although there is some debate on that. Some of our scientists think you are capable of such things, thinking, that is." Clearly, he wasn't one of them. It infuriated me. "Some do. Either way, you are in here so that each person in each compartment can throw stones down at you, and you will have to survive as long as you can."

"Max?" Nudge's voice quavered slightly. "What does that mean?"

"That they started chucking stones at us like water balloons." Said Iggy dryly. "We lived."

"Obviously. I'm not sure your brain survived, though." Ella nudged Iggy's shoulders, and he shoved her right back, laughing despite themselves. Fang, Nudge, and I were too engrossed in the shimmering images on screen as we moved faster than I had thought possible to avoid the barrage of rocks being pelted at us.

"Max?" At the quiet voice, I immediately pressed pause (right in the middle of a great shot of showing my legs thrown out from underneath me, Iggy rolling to the side, Stripes doing this great maneuver where she jumped up to avoid one, but rolled her back over to avoid another, and Fang just running) and looked up at the balcony, where Gazzy leaned over, rubbing his bright, blue eyes.

"Yeah, Gaz?" I called up. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine." He yawned. "Until I got woken up by you mouthing off to a whitecoat. I figured it was a video…"

"Sorry." I laughed, and Iggy called down,

"Wanna come watch it with us?"

The Gasman didn't bother to reply, just slowly trooped down the stairs and took a place at Ig's feet. I dunno exactly _why _he wanted to watch us get nearly stoned to death, and it's not liked he cared about Roman history or whatever. Actually, I'm pretty sure they did that in a lot of places back then. Whatever. At the School, the scientists had tried to use 'smart' ideas to torture us, and that was the extent of my education.

See how long we could go in heated rooms built to mimic the witch burnings in medieval Europe.

Fang had been shoved in one of those body torture things where there are little holes and they stick needles into you. Just one more reason why he's totally claustrophobic.

Then there's this fabulous machine called a stretcher, where they simply strap you down with ropes tied to your hands and feet, then they literally pull you apart for information. It had taken Iggy a while to get over his fear of ropes.

Nudge was tar-and-feathered, like in the Revolutionary War, where they coated redcoats in tar, then covered them in feathers. The poor suckers were left to their own devices, but luckily Nudge had a team of three other buddies to help her out.

Lets see… oh, the ever-so-classy gas chamber thing from World War Two had been tested on Yours Featherly. I hadn't been able to talk for weeks, and couldn't see for a few days. It had been a huge scare because it hadn't been long after Iggy had lost his sight.

My knowledge of history is strictly torture. Charming, eh?

Anyways. By now, if any of you are historians, you would want a death count or 'casualty take', number injured, number killed by injuries, and any epidemics that spread through the 'hospital' (yeah, our crates) while we healed.

Casualty take? Zip.

Number injured? Four.

NKBI? Nada.

Epidemics? Well, while we were still recovering, the whitecoats put a flu virus into the room and quarantined us for a month. It totally sucked (and luckily wasn't on this particular tape) but at least we got to heal in somewhat-peace.

Well, as much as Stripes can heal after being slammed in the head with a huge boulder, then having it roll on top of her. Crushing multiple ribs and other bones, not to mention a concussion. I think 'injured' is also a bit mellow of a word for what happened to Iggy, being completely buried in stones once he went down. Fang dropped like a stone (no pun intended) at the same instant, and I had only another second before I was overwhelmed by having all the attention on me.

Ella, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Fang, and I all held our breath as I, the last one, went down with an 'oof' and a fabulous smattering of red liquid.

"High velocity blood spatter." I commented, quoting CSI, which I watch on occasion with Ella. Much better than the crap where no one has personalities or a single brain cell to split between them.

"Nah," Nudge scrutinized the screen even though a few laughing maniacs were still chucking tiny stones that just clattered to the ground and the whitecoats rushed around madly. "High velocity would have mashed your brains out, I'm thinking medium, but still quite the impact. Concussion would be a definite, though I doubt any of you woke up for days, at least. And that spotted cat girl-"

"Stripes." Iggy interrupted.

"Stripes. She was completely crushed."

Fang nodded.

"Took forever for her to let us help her, once she woke up." I added, remembering. "Fang woke first, then Iggy, and me, but it was another day before she did, after the flu. Caught it anyway, but then she was too tired to argue with us."

"Flu?" Gazzy asked. "Like, they put the disease in your room?"

I nodded. Ella shuddered.

"It's like the Cold War all over again." She muttered, her eyes shut tightly. Iggy was rubbing her shoulders soothingly. "Where they tested disease weapons on monkeys in Russia."

Uhh, if she said so. Luckily, we hadn't got to the Cold War in School History 101.

There was silence on our part as we watched Erasers chuck our bodies into crates like ragdolls, then wheel us back to our room on the airport baggage cart. Then the men and women in white jotted down notes for a few moments, and left.

"Um, guys?" The Gasman chirped after about five minutes of us just watching ourselves breathe. "Nothing personal, but this is probably going to be the same until the end of the tape. What do we do now?"

I paused for a moment, then turned to locate the suitcase with my eyes. "Wanna try and find the next tape, Gaz?" I asked, pointing it out to him. He nodded and hurried over, rifling through the not-so-neat piles of VCR's. He read a few, threw them aside, then continued searching until he pulled one up and appeared to re-read the label multiple times.

"Gaz?" Fang croaked.

"What's up, man?" Came Iggy's voice.

The eight year old hesitated a moment before meeting my eyes. "Um, Max. It says 'for fun.' And I can't find the next one. What does 'for fun' mean?"

I shrugged, glad that my shoulder no longer hurt. When I had changed the night before, there was a small bruise and cut, the only symbol of my encounter with the Diamondback.

"Probably that it's not really required, just a video he found… but I wonder why it would be fun…" I mused to myself, then rolled my eyes. The heck with it, why not? "Put it in the player, Gazzy."

He complied, and I caught Fang's eyes. It was the classic, expressionless look with no emotion or anything portrayed on his face, but he was still asking what I thought. I shrugged and turned back to the screen, just as it burst into color.

_WE ARE THE FLOCK! _Ran in bright sharpie across a huge yellow poster that miniature Nudge and Angel's were holding up. The handwriting was messy, probably guided by Jeb's hand, even so, though, the E's were all backwards. It looked maybe a year after we had escaped, making Angel about two and Nudge seven. They were easily recognizable, though. A, by the fact that their wings were spread wide and shaking with their laughter, and B being that Nudge's mocha skin and eye color hadn't changed, nor had Angel's cherub face and blonde curls. Again, they shoved it at the camera, so whoever was holding it fell backwards.

"Hold it, guys, I think we got the picture." A very familiar voice sent an ache through my stomach, but quickly was overpowered by the anger. Jeb. "And so, Nudge, why don't you tell us what this is?"

"Oh God." Beside me, Nudge covered her mouth, but I could see her body shaking in silent laughter and tears begin to come to her eyes. "I remember this! I freaking remember-"

"What is it?" Iggy asked irritably.

"Dunno." Fang supplied, sounding at a complete loss. I agreed.

"Guys!" Ella squealed, "they're, like, real home videos! Just like the ones mom has that she threatens to blackmail me with if I don't clean my room!"

Iggy groaned. I shook my head, but kept my eyes on the giggling Angel and Nudge.

"A home video!" Nudge squealed grabbing Angel's hand as they ditched the board. "For fun! Showing us do fun stuff and everything and-"

"And what else?" Jeb still sounded kind, but also stern. I rolled my eyes. He was trying to finagle learning into it. Learning survival.

"Oh, yeah. Like, proof, or something. That we existed, right?" Nudge glanced at the invisible, camera-holding Jeb, who must have nodded. "Yeah," she continued, "which I think is weird because obviously we exist and Max would kick anyone's butt if they tried to say different. She's funny like that."

Nudge and I exchanged a look in the living room; both of us grinning like fools.

"'Funny like that.'" Fang repeated faintly. I winked at him, and turned back to the TV.

"Well, apparently we gotta do this introduction thing, plus it's fun, right, Ang?"

Angel nodded, sucking her thumb.

"But you said you were gonna clip other stuff so it would just be one video incase the govmer…gomerv…"

"Government." Said Jeb helpfully. Nudge nodded enthusiastically again.

"Yeah, that. Incase they need to watch this for some reason. Do you think they'll like my wings? I like my wings, they're sorta brownish, like that hawk Fang pointed out the other day. Like, just pointed out. It was really cool 'cause he just had to point and we all looked, he didn't have to say anything and he rarely does except to Max, but incase the gomervent wants to know, Max and Fang and Iggy are all ten, and they're out practicing flying and stuff."

Ella was in hysterics on the couch, Nudge was right up with her, and Iggy was trying to hold it back and failing just as miserably as Gazzy. I managed to hold it in, only being able to because of my experience in keeping a straight face. Fang was even smiling slightly, until it was interrupted by a brief cough.

"'Gomervent?'" Gazzy cackled, rolling onto his back. "Priceless, Total, look at this!"

Total had strode in, glaring pointedly at Iggy, before looking at the screen and having his jaw drop open.

"Nudge?" He breathed, stepping closer. "Like, a real kid video? Not the torture stuff I usually have to avoid?"

"Do serenades classify under torture?" Iggy asked innocently. Total lunged for him, but Nudge grabbed him. She and Angel are the only ones who can control that wing nut.

"Why don't you explain to the government why you have wings, Nudgie." Jeb continued. Nudge immediately stopped laughing and glared, for once, not saying anything.

But the Nudge on screen continued. "We were stolen by scientists and… they unraveled our DNA. Added bird genes. Can I go find Max?" Even though she hadn't spoken very much, Nudge's voice was cracking with worry and she was getting darty eyed, looking for an escape route. I could now see we were in the kitchen, but forgot whether or not she broke one of the large windows…

Apparently not, because Jeb said she could, then she whisked Angel away and they could be heard sprinting through the house. The screen went black momentarily, Jeb had placed the lens cap on, but you could hear the distant holler of,

"GAZZY! YOU COULD HAVE BLOWN US UP! YOU WAIT TILL I TELL MAX!"

"IT WAS PERFECTLY SAFE, NUDGE!"

"THERE'S A FREAKING FIRE IN MY BEDROOM! LOOK AT ANGEL'S STUFFED ANIMALS! AND THE BOOK! GOD, MAX WILL KILL YOU!"

Then, very quietly, you could hear my voice. I must have flown in through an open window.

"Gazzy." I asked quietly. "Hand. Me. The. Accelerants. And. Explosives. _Now._" After a pause, where he probably handed them over, I must have turned to Iggy. "And I thought you had taken them away!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Iggy hollered back. "I was with you, smart one, he probably got them from the…err… kitchen cabinet."

A large bang followed shortly after, the screen still black, and if there was any more noise it was drowned out by our roaring laughter.

**There's going to be more of this video in the next chapter, but I want to update before I go to bed, it's 11:58. Go vacation!**


	28. Are You Watching Closely?

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

**Sorry about not updating sooner! I've been tired/busy. People always say you have the whole summer and therefore can get more stuff done, but then I try to do too much and don't do it all. I dunno if that happens to any of you… Haha, totally random. Anyway, reviewers, reviewers…**

**dancingqueen-thank you! Kara Nicole-glad you liked it!**

**barefootbean-hurrying! Haha, thanks! And I love your username…**

**MaxRideRox-the all lived in the video, including Stripes :D**

**Ugh, I hate stereotyping, too, Maddy Hehe, glad you enjoyed it, Mo**

**Rainie16-I'm working on it! Hehe, gomervent…**

**LovelyNBlue-here we are! deb-I'll work on that, thanks for the tip**

**wat2bMAX- thank you :D we should protest the movie if they're chosen**

**And now, onward with chapter 28. **

Oh God, gomervent. Hehe. I was still laughing about that an hour later after mom had come down and started breakfast for us. We had woke her up during our fit of hysterics, then she watched the video with us for a while, until she made us pause it because we were all hungry.

After some brief clicks and a black screen, we had watched me teach Gazzy and Nudge how to land. Taking off was easy, as was gliding. Often, Jeb just had us jump off a cliff or the edge of the roof, and Fang, Iggy, and I hovered nearby protectively. With our bigger wings, it looked like we had already learned before Jeb started taping the process. Or just wouldn't let him tape us, I didn't remember and wouldn't have put it past Fang. Anyway, Iggy stood at the ground, marking where they should stand, and Fang coasted down beside the pair as they attempted to pull up in time. At first Nudge was too excited and went a bit faster than she should have and landed a few face plants, while Gazzy was worried about what was happening to Nudge and went too slow so he was shaking to much to land. Finally, though, after Nudge managed a shaky landing, he bit his lip and got his feet on the ground with only a little tripping. Even Iggy hadn't teased him about that.

Then there had been breakfast, an affair large enough to feed a third world country. Or six birdkids and their fatherly figure, but really, ultimately, what's the difference? Fang hadn't taken his dark eyes off the camera, watching it like he thought it might explode, and hadn't spoken a single word. If he needed something, he'd just get up, drift over, and sit down again. No, 'please pass the OJ' or even just, 'yo, Ig, orange juice?' Whereas I attempted to force-feed a baby Angel who wouldn't swallow anything, and only when she coughed a large mixture of oatmeal and lemonade up on my face and see my expression did she drink anything. Nudge had give us a running commentary on how happy she was that she could land without killing herself, though she did have a few fresh bruises to sport.

The hardest part for me to watch, though, was when Jeb had taken me aside after breakfast (which had ended abruptly when Gazzy had let loose some aromatherapy) and set me down on the couch in front of him.

"Max," he had said seriously, "I know you love it here, but it won't always be like this. We might not always be-"

"I know." I had interrupted him irritably. "We might not always be at the E house. But I don't get it. Why? You never tell me why! Or why do I have to take care of everyone? Won't you help us?" Then I felt a pang as I had watched my wide brown eyes stare up at Jeb, who seemed to swallow. Whether in guilt or sadness I didn't know. If he was despondent, though, he managed to choke it down with a stern look in his eyes.

"Max." He said in that slight reprimanding tone. "You can't always expect answers. You have to-"

"Find them out myself!" I seethed, turning to glare out a window. "Well why the hell-"

"Language!"

I stuck my tongue out at him and huffed. "There's no logical reason for having to videotape me, though. Or any of us. You know how Fang hates cameras."

"Actually," Jeb's voice quieted for a moment. "I don't know much about Fang seeing as he hasn't said a word since we got here."

"He has to me! Eleven words, to be exact, so suck on that. And it's only been four months." I snapped back at Jeb, jumping off the couch to sit on the window bench padded with cushions. "And you don't have to say anything to notice stuff." My voice turned sneering, even though I didn't stop looking out the window. "After all, shouldn't you find out the answers yourself?"

Jeb had managed a throaty chuckle. "Alright, missy. Now get down from there, and I won't be taping you all the time. C'mon. We need to review your hand signals and language." I had looked back down at him for a moment, sighed heavily, and turned around so I could watch him with my legs dangling a few inches above the floor.

"That's my girl," He laughed. "Now, why again do we have to do this?"

"Incase we ever get into trouble and you're not there to help." I drudged out, sounding like I was getting a popquiz. Which I pretty much was.

"That's right. Kollen."

In less than a second, I had disappeared behind a chair. Jeb nodded for some reason, then gave me the command to come back out. "Drudgen."

"How was that?" I asked, pulling myself out from underneath the chair. "Did you see me?"

Jeb had laughed again and told me I had done fantastically, and that he hadn't seen me. Then he had gone through some more commands, and after a while had me repeat them back to him. I seemed to be having a lot of fun, because I could make him do whatever I wanted. Run outside. Roll across the floor. Freeze, which I had him do at random intervals. After we had spent a while on that, we had gone over numerous hand commands, which I wasn't half as good at. After I had ordered jeb to leave the room with a flick of my fingers, then fallen asleep of boredom before I called him back, did mom pause it and declare breakfast.

Even though Iggy and I had already eaten, we split Fang's untouched portion of eggs and bacon still in the fridge while mom cooked up plenty more for Ella, Nudge, herself, and Gazzy while Angel slept. Total had declared he was 'wiped' and went to go snuggle with her where she was camped on the floor in Ella's room. I settled myself next to Fang on the bench after I had inhaled the contents of my plate, and placed my hand on his knee under the table.

"Hey, Ella." Nudge chirped. "When do you get out of school? Isn't tomorrow your first day after vacation or something? I think it's great you have vacations during the school year, because otherwise I so would never be able to go. School was okay the two times we went, but I liked the Day and Night School better, but I'd never be able to stay. Do you like school?" Thankfully, Gazzy shoved a strip or two of fake bacon (yes, she's still going for a sometimes-arian) into her mouth. Personally, I can't stomach the stuff and I've eaten literal trash, folks.

"Nudge," mom sighed heavily from the frying pan. She didn't need to say anything more, the girl knew what she was talking about. That didn't dampen Nudge's spirits, though.

"Thirty days. I have a countdown in my room," Ella sighed. "Granted, I could just blow it all off, except for exam days. Which is, like, half. Or as good as."

"Exams? That sucks." Iggy asked, keeping his grey eyes trained in her general direction. "In which subjects?"  
"English. French. Algebra. Science. Civics. World Justice. History, and my elective, AL, or ancient languages." And people ask why I don't want to go to school. Sheesh. That's what, three plus languages, depending on what go on in her AL classes?

"Damn," Iggy rolled his eyes, ignoring the glares he knew mom and I were shooting his way. "I get the whole countdown thing. What do you study in AL?"

"Isn't that the stuff Vikings read?" Gazzy asked around a mouthful of cereal. "I thought they had this whole alphabet going on."

And this is the time when I ask if he has a voice in his head, because never in my life do I remember Gazzy expressing a liking towards sailors with pointy hats. Fang nudged my foot, as if voicing the same thought.

"Well, it's hard." Ella surrendered. "But really cool. I know the whole Runic alphabet, then Ogham, though that's harder because there's a ton of lines and stuff. I think the Runic ones are more varied instead of one having two lines and the other having three. We started Theban a few weeks ago, so I'm still working on that, but in between we learn legends and stuff. Mythology, which makes me think that Hercules is the best historically inaccurate animated film in the world."

Iggy took the words right out of my mouth.

_Damn. _Actually more like, holy crap that is a lot of freaking stuff to memorize, not to mention the fact that I'd never heard of Ogham or The-whatsit. Not that I know a ton of stuff, but didn't they use Runes of World Of Warcraft or something? I saw a poster ad for that in New York.

"Why?" Piped up Nudge around another fake-bacon strip. "I liked Hercules. Did Meg actually die and they wanted a good ending, or maybe Hercules died. That would have put a damper on the story, I think."

"Yeah," the Gasman rolled his eyes. "It's only be a little disappointing if the main character and savior of Olympus died, but maybe I'm being prejudiced." Nudge kicked him; he kicked her right back until my mom broke their fight up. I was too busy laughing. I love Nudge. _That would have put a damper on the story. _I wondered if my readers thought it would put 'a damper on the story' if one of the Flock died. Yes. It would. The death of any member of the Flock would make the word cry. Or at least make me consider suicide. I shook my head, clearing the air of the depressing thoughts making their homes in my mind.

"Well, he married Meg and had two kids." Ella conceded. "But then he was poisoned so he thought he had to kill them. So he did. He was pretty conceited, too, not like the hero in the movie. And Pegasus wasn't made of a cirrus cloud."

"Don't tell Angel that." I glared at Ella across the table for a moment. "I think she wants to try it sometime, see if she can talk to clouds or something." Angel only had so much innocent seven year old-ness left, and I wasn't going to tell her she couldn't take a cloud and make a flying horse out of it.

"What?" Gazzy exclaimed, dropping his spoon with a clatter. "She can-_what? _NO! She can already talk to fish and whales and sharks and shape shift and breathe underwater and we're related and I can't do-"

"Gaz." Iggy clapped his hand over the eight year old's mouth. "Angel cannot talk to clouds, and you're pulling a Nudge. Please, spare us."

"Thank you." I rubbed my eyes wearily. Fang sighed next to me.

"No problem." Iggy smirked in Fang's general direction. He knows enough to translate that relieved sigh. "Hey, Ells, do they teach you to translate Fang-speak at your school? You could give the rest of us besides Max some tips."

Everyone minus Fang laughed, though I thought I might have seen the corner of his lip twitch. Granted, having a translator would be nice, I don't know everything Fang thinks. I'm trying to figure out if that's a good or bad thing.

"Well," Ella suddenly sounded slightly concerned. "I know that he should have hit you for that."

Fang stiffened. It was true, he hadn't lifted a finger against Iggy, who was plenty close enough for a good kick or punch. I glanced at him once, meeting his eyes, which he rolled. Then he turned slightly so he could look out a window and avoid Ella and Nudge's concerned stare and mom looking from his flushed face to the empty plate in front of him.

"You don't have a red face from flying this morning, do you?" She asked, leaning back against the counter and brushing a spare strand of hair from her eyes, which were looking him over. Fang twitched his head to the side once.

Then mom sighed, and turned to troop out of the kitchen. "Let me get my kit." She called back. "I can practically see the heat rolling off of you, and don't you try to run away."

She caught him just as he jerked to his feet, but catching my glare, he sat back down again.

"She is a vet, you know."

"Appropriately enough."

"She fixed my wing."

"That was you." I would have argued back, but there were two small problems. One being that I didn't really have anything to say to that argument (note sarcasm) and two that suddenly his hoarse coughs broke off any speech I could have made.

"Tylenol didn't do crap." I muttered, pushing him off the bench and pulling him down the hall to where mom was rifling through a box in the bathroom. I kinda summed it up right there. Mom found this handy little tool that I had to practically tie Fang down so I could swab it in his mouth, then she dropped some liquid stuff on it, and a moment later, two little letters were in the process of materializing.

"What's that?" I asked her, peering over her shoulder. She grinned at me, and kissed my forehead, making my belly glow warm.

"New technology. Swab it in a sick person's mouth, and if they don't have the flu, the word 'no' will show up in blue."

"And if they do?"

"Two letters in red."

I waited a moment longer before being able to discern that the two letters were A and F in red.

"Sucks to be you," I glanced at Fang, where he leaned against the doorframe with a slight glare. "You have AF, whatever the heck that means. What does it mean, mom?"

She smiled, and threw part of the thing away into the trash, and the lettered part back in its box. "First that Fang will be quarantined because I pray that this doesn't spread. Then Iggy and I will be making a lot of chicken soup for a while. Third that we will need to go to the store and get a good supply of tissues, though hopefully not too many, because we're going to try to make sure he stays the only one sick."

"And fourth?" I begged, curiosity getting the better of me again. "What does AF mean? Avian flu?" I smirked at Fang, who rolled his eyes humorously. "Wouldn't that be hilarious, Fang?" I snorted, giggling. "Ah, avian flu. If only. What does it mean mom?"

She had been watching me with an expression torn between amusement and exasperation before she finally settled on a firm, "now I don't want any immature jokes, I doubt Fang will be in the mood for them."

My jaw dropped open. She smiled slightly and nodded once, before turning away and pushing her medicine box back in the cabinet. I stumbled to Fang before he cracked into a huge grin and I started cracking up, so he was more supporting me as mom swatted us out of the bathroom and back into the kitchen where the conversation abruptly stopped.

"Avian flu!" I shrieked, nearly collapsing again as Fang snickered and mom, rolling her eyes, ushered us upstairs and into our room.

I was still laughing when she said sternly, "Max I swear to God if you get sick…" Then she abruptly turned to go find some clean sheets for Fang's air mattress even as I kept laughing with Fang, though he was only smiling, and he kept his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

What can I say?

We're the six kings of immature jokes.

*******

"So how long are you supposed to be quarantined?" I asked, leaning back to back against Fang. I felt his shoulders shrug, but there was a slight exasperated way in doing so. How? I don't know, but I do know Fang, and I could tell. "Supposed to be, I know." I rolled my eyes. "The window opens really wide, we can always go for a flight if you want."

His characteristic silence rang with, 'I know, Max.' Again, don't ask. I scratched a bug bite.

"Are you quarantined just here?" I continued, glancing again at the small walls. We don't follow rules, it just doesn't work out, and we also get bored extremely easily. Even though I thought only staying in the room was a joke, I didn't think mom would want Fang suddenly having a bizarre urge to explore every nook and cranny of the small house.

"Well, hopefully it includes the bathroom." I snickered, and could practically hear his smirk, though it was quickly overridden with a hoarse cough. "Wanna watch a movie?"

I hesitated, chewing it over. "Disney, from the School, or something else?"

"Something else. Tired of watching us get tortured."

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, pulling him to his feet and out the door, "as if it doesn't happen enough." First I checked on Angel, still fast asleep with Total in her arms. He thumped his tail once when he saw me, then closed his eyes again. I smiled, shut the door, and towed Fang downstairs into the living room. Pulling out the enormous box of DVDs and movies, I began to offer our choice to Fang.

"All the ones we've already seen, plus numerous other Disney films." He shook his head, leaning over the arm of the couch to look with me. "Treasure Island… no. The Dark Knight. Eh, maybe. What say you?"

"What's up with superheroes and wearing underwear over the costume?"

I laughed and flipped to the next one. "My point exactly. Confessions of a Shopaholic, I wonder how they got Nudge into this? Legally Blonde, c'mon, Fang," I smirked at him, "I know that's your favorite. No? Are you-"

He gestured to the one a few rows down from the pink-encrusted DVD. The Prestige. I flipped it over, read the back, didn't bother showing it to Fang as he was reading over my shoulder, and after glancing at him for confirmation, slipped the DVD into the player and settled back down on the couch with Fang. He pressed the play button on the remote, and pulled my back to lean on his shoulder.

_"Are you watching closely?"_

Then the door opened and we stole a quick glance at my mom, who eyed us, sighed, and closed the door again, muttering.

_"Every great magic trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called 'The Pledge.' The Magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn't. The second act is called 'The Turn.' The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary." _

Fang and I looked at each other. Yes. Definitely a good movie.


	29. Definition Of Dead

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

**Let's hear it for awesome reviewers! And convincing my mom to buy **_**Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports**_** and **_**Schools Out-Forever**_** for my brother for his birthday. Or for me to steal and read whenever I want, but who's talking? Hehe. **

**Irony is priceless, Mo :D Glad you enjoyed it**

**indescriable destruction-thank you! Really :D wow, I do a lot of emoticons…**

**14-I went to fictionpress and made an account! Thanks, I've been looking for somewhere like that. Thank you!!!**

**SilverLiningXofXLife-first of all, love your penname, and that means a ton!**

**Maddy, it's a quality film, I would suggest it :D Yes, Saint did write something with avian bird flu in it, though I thought this chapter up myself, so I was a bit concerned on whether I should use the same idea or not… Hehe, I wonder if I'll have Ella ask him that. **

**Rainie16-thanks! Updating!**

**Sky-Angel14-thank you! And here we are!**

**LovelyNBlue-I thought that might be amusing ;)**

**Kelsey Goode-a FAX scene is quite possible, seeing as I'm running low on ideas right now. Any others feel free to suggest them**

**And thanks, DracaCountess! Reviews like that make it worth staying up all night and getting up at seven the next morning :D**

**musikbabe-I'll work on it, if not in this chapter, than in the next. Promise.**

**1910tsuki-haha, glad you liked it**

**raikimonducktape99-you sound like me after discovering a good story, thanks so much! Hehe, I say epic a ton, too…**

**'K, guys, I loved all the reviews! 138, I think. That's totally, freaking, AWESOME. Any ideas you guys want to suggest, as I'm running a little low and don't want it to become boring with drudging video after video, feel free to put them in your review! Ah, and it's been decided. Any snide comments from Ella about cannibalism to Fang were Maddy's idea. **

I don't think I've ever watched as many movies in my life as I did while we stayed at mom's house. After Fang and I finished _the Prestige, _Angel finally came downstairs and, hearing everyone's thoughts on the video Jeb had made of the E house, wanted to continue watching that. So, hopefully not using any of her abilities, she convinced the rest of us to sit down and watch some more. Then, she snapped at us because there had been a note on the back of the tape and we hadn't noticed it.

"Max!" She was still glaring at me with those baby blue eyes. "Do you have any idea how important this could be? What if it held some clue to saving the world, huh? Jeb must have left it here for a reason, I'm serious! Don't smirk at me!"

"Sorry," I giggled helplessly. "You sound like mom after I stay outside all night." Iggy roared with laughter, Ella was in hysterics, leaning on Iggy's shoulder for support, and Nudge and Gazzy were gasping for air as they lay on their backs on the carpeted floor. Fang managed a hacking sort of chuckle, and even mom was trying to disguise her laughter. I mean, it's not everyday you get a seven year old yelling at you about saving the world and your duties. Total was the only supporter, telling us that 'the girl's spot on!'

"Why don't you read it, Ang?" Fang asked her hoarsely. She pursed her lips, glared at us all once more, and glanced down at the note again. A sigh escaped her, then she pushed the note at me.

"I can't read it. Jeb's handwriting is messy."

"True that." I muttered, leaning closer to try and decipher the scribbles. Knowing Jeb it was probably another test-to see if I had enough patience to figure out what he was saying. "It's addressed to 'the Flock.'" I began, squinting. " 'After you hare'-sorry, 'have, watched these videos, which should be your ultimate priority as the fate of the'-screw it." I shoved the note at Fang. Angel could yell at me all she wanted, but I drew the line at a note informing me of my duties.

"'As the fate of the world rests in your hands, Max,' he sure isn't putting it on lightly." Fang muttered, scanning the note. "It's pretty much," he coughed. "Telling you that you should concentrate all your attention on saving the world, and how this was just 'comic relief' after the videos, which he described as 'unpleasant.' Screw him, I wonder if he'd find a snapped neck unpleasant…" Fang coughed again, not seeming to notice how Ella couldn't take her eyes off of him as he spoke more in front of her than ever before, while mom wisely averted her smile outside, though it turned into a grimace at the comment on Jeb's neck.

I wondered very much about that, too, Fang.

"He hasn't watched them, just mashed them together so it will be a little under three hours and a 'brief look on our childhood.'"

"How cute." I sneered. "Let's watch it."

"But Max," Ella raised an eyebrow in confusion as I slid the tape back in and fast forwarded to where we had been. "Doesn't he want you to figure out the videos first?"

"Exactly." I could nearly hear Iggy rolling his eyes.

"She refers to Jeb as the 'spawn of Satan.'" Angel said knowingly, past anger forgotten. "She won't do anything he tells her."

Got that right, sistah. Though I couldn't help but snicker as I sat back next to Fang. However, my laughing mood vanished abruptly when I realized that Jeb must have planted hidden video cameras to get half the stuff. It was what he was always warning us about, but I hadn't expected them in my own home.

In big green letters in the side of the screen, four words appeared.

"'Day One of Freedom. Oh nine hundred hours.'" Mom read aloud, not sounding very enthusiastic. "That's nice."

Jeb was holding a video camera again, getting a good view of the morning sunlight. It was probably around nine-o-clock, and we were in our old backyard. Pretty much a sparse clearing we used to play soccer, practice fighting, and everything we needed to do close to come. We had the whole Colorado Mountains for the rest of it. I was there, carrying Angel in a little backpack baby-carrier thingie and cautiously holding Gazzy's hand. Jeb was trying to coax us out a large, glass door. Nudge, Iggy, and Fang stood beside me, and all of us where watching Jeb warily.

"C'mon, guys." He called to us. "Trust me. The house is safe, remember how I went over it all with you?"

"Yes." I answered hesitantly. "But what the hell is a 'living room?' and a 'mattress?' Do we stay there until they slate us for execution or something? Where are all the whitecoats? Is this another test?" My voice was tiny, scratchy; as if unused to using it paired with being deathly scared. The camera didn't get a very good view of us, but you could tell that we were all pale (minus Nudge) and looking very concerned with the sudden freedom. Not to mention deathly skinny and undernourished.

"I've told you before, Maxie." Jeb explained patiently. "We ran away, we're not going back. The whitecoats won't find us. You're safe, and no, this isn't a test." He gestured with his hand for me to follow him out. I didn't move, and my friends were all watching me for what to do, so they didn't budge either. "Remember when I used to tell you about the outdoors and wildlife? You said you wanted to go there, right?"

I visibly brightened. "Uh huh! Can we go there? You said there was an Outdoors here, and you said there were Grass and Trees and Apples. Which rooms are those?" I turned to Fang and jumped up and down in front of him. "This is it, Fang! I used to tell you what Jeb told me, we're gonna see Outdoors!"

Damn did I sound pathetic. You could hear the uppercase letters on 'outdoors' and the others, like they were book titles or something.

"Max," Jeb held his arms open, "this is the outdoors. The wild. Where you can live, there are no walls here." He strode forward, a few steps ahead of where the stone patio ended, bent low, and picked some grass. "You see this?" He held it out to me, put it in my hand, even though I flinched visibly. "This is grass. It's green."

"Here, Ig." I put the grass in his hand, so excited that I nearly flung Angel out of the backpack. "This is-"

"I heard." He spoke for the first time. "There's not very much of it, though."

"No, Iggy!" As one, I tugged them all forward and pushed them onto the grassy lawn, at the same time feeling it for myself, experiencing grass for the first time. "There's a whole ton of it!"

"Can you eat it?" Gazzy asked Jeb, sniffing it experimentally. I laughed. Trust the Gasman to think of his stomach.

"Not this type." Jeb laughed, rumpling his blonde hair. "But you'll learn what you can eat and what you can't." I hated it. Hated the way he sounded so sincere, so happy for us as the six of us spread across the lawn, amazement on everyone's faces. Even Fangs. At one point, he even nudged me and pointed to the sky where puffy sheep clouds dotted the horizon. Jeb explained to us that they were 'clouds' in the 'sky.'

"Can you touch them?" Asked Nudge, sprinting over from a dirt patch. "They look really soft. I think I'd like to sleep on one of those, you know?" But Jeb had to ruin her moment by explaining what clouds really were; though I grudgingly admitted that it was good Nudge hadn't tried sleeping in one. That would have been problematic. Meanwhile, Gazzy was guiding Iggy around the clearing, each of them touching everything they could. Bark. Rocks. Bird feathers. Pine cones.

I didn't think I'd make it through the next five minutes of watching us, little lab experiments that we were, breathe deeply as if we'd never smell fresh air again and explore every nook and cranny we dared. It killed me a little every time Fang lifted a mushroom for Angel to touch and sniff, that we had ever been like that. That wasn't how real kids were supposed to grow up. Somehow, though, probably helped by Fang rubbing circles on my back, I did.

Then the screen clicked again, and more green lettering appeared. It was the same day, but fourteen hours later, and the E house was dark. After a moment, though, of sunset light streaming through a huge wall of window, I recognized the shape in the bed that dwarfed her. Me. I was sitting stark straight in the bed, looking out the window at the sun setting over the mountains, with my wings unfolded on the bed behind me. Then, I jumped nearly a foot in the air, fell of the bed, then was already spitting in anger and looking ready to kill someone when a shadow moved across my doorframe.

"Did you fall off the bed?" Iggy asked knowingly from the couch. "Then take apart a chair? Was that what I heard?"

"…Yes." I admitted grudgingly.

The shadow, though, wasn't a shadow at all. It was Fang, dark hair falling in dark eyes and dressed in dark clothes.

"Oh," I sighed, collapsing on the floor, my breath coming in rushes. "I thought…"

Fang shook his head once. No, he was not an Eraser, whitecoat, or other demonic thing trying to tear my throat out.

"Are Gaz and Ig settled? Jeb in bed?" I asked him after a moment. He hadn't moved from the doorframe, but from wherever the camera was hidden, you could see his eyes flitting around nervously. Ha. Little did I know that in less than a month I would be separating the two to make sure the house didn't burn down, that was after they had discovered the lighter.

Fang nodded.

"Did Angel wake up?" I continued, eyeing him continually as I pushed the broken contents of the chair aside after deciding I didn't know what the hell to do with them.

He shook his head.

This didn't deter me. After eight years of living with Fang, I was used to making conversation with myself. I hopped back on the bed and continued to look out the window.

"It's weird," I began, "isn't it? Like, I guess we're supposed to sleep in here. But… no one else is here. I can't hear Iggy snoring or Gazzy muttering or anyone breathing…"

Fang nodded.

"Why're you standing in the…" I hesitated. "Door space, I guess. Since the door isn't there. You can come in, you know."

He then responded by folding down on the floor just inside said door space.

"Man," Gazzy snickered. "Max, I think you're talking to yourself."

I snickered, glancing at Fang, who rolled his eyes, and characteristically, said nothing.

"You can sit on the…bed." My voice was so tiny, but I continued. You get used to that kind of stuff with Fang. He shook his head, and I just barely caught the slight shutting of one eyelid. Then it was wide open again as he continued to take surveillance. "Or," my younger self had caught him. "We can drag your mattress, that's what these things are called, Jeb told me, in here. We can share a room for a while. Want to do that?"

He hesitated, but then nodded once. It wasn't just me to see how relieved he was that I asked, so together, we trooped out of the room.

And came back a while later, huffing and puffing and me complaining about the weight of the mattress. Jeb had heard the noise, and after taking a brief look at the situation, helped us master the ultimate problem. Getting the mattress through the door. I then tossed down a blanket, and together, we watched the sun sink below the horizon. I must have fallen asleep, but after a brief blip where Jeb must have edited it to show a few hours later, Fang was not.

"Insomniac." I muttered, glancing in his direction.

"Home for wayward Voices."

I refused to admit he had a good point then watched as his younger self breathed a barely audible "Max?"

I shot up in bed all the same, though, breathing heavily and falling off the bed again onto Fang's mattress, who was so surprised he kicked me and I skidded back into the wall.

"Shut up, Iggy." We said at the same time, as Iggy, who had heard what happened, started laughing.

"What?" I snapped, getting up shakily and looking around the room again. "I finally got to sleep, this had better be important. Jeb said the whitecoats weren't coming back! He promised, we can trust him. Seriously, no Erasers either! He told me so." Fang waited silently until I had ended my groggy but still irritated rant, then got up quietly, pushed me back onto my bed so I could lie down and still look to where his finger pointed. Out the huge window and into the enormous Colorado sky, brighter than daylight with a full moon and stars speckled like sprinkles on a cupcake. Even from the slightly dingy camera, it was beautiful. On screen, Fang nudged me as if to say, 'is that important enough?' and I nodded once.

We didn't sleep the entire night, just sat in silence and stared at the sky.

Not that the video showed that, 'cause that'd be a rather long video. Instead, the screen faded to black, and the little green letters scrawled across the edge like in cheesy spy movies. I try to ignore how much said cheesy spy movies relate to my life.

" 'Day Sixty-Three of Freedom.'" Ella murmured to Iggy, who nodded once, ears pricked for anything that the rest of us might miss. "Err… one thirty I think, depending on how accurate that army buff was who gave us a speech about military time at school…"

"How long is that?" Nudge piped up. "Sixty three days? How many months? How long were we out of the School for?"

"About three months." Mom answered for her, voice sounding slightly tense. I stole a look at her, and saw how her hands were in fists, face more pinched than usual, and a familiar gleam in her eyes. One I had used oh too often. I smiled slightly at her, a classic 'it's okay' gesture. Her lip twitched, but she still-

"Max?"

"Yeah, sweetie?" She was eyeing Jeb on the screen, who was waiting impatiently at the bottom of the stairs. Probably for me judging by the way he kept calling my name. Just a guess there.

"Should I like Jeb? Now, I mean, like when he comes by?"

I froze instantly. You have no idea how hard it is for your younger 'sister', only seven, to ask you if they should like the man who you once wanted as a father, then thought dead, then wished dead? I couldn't influence her decision, even as much as I wanted to say, "hell no! That man's a bastard and an insult to humanity!" It would be wrong, as wrong as her asking the woman back in New York to buy Celeste, her teddy bear, for her.

_Choices are important, Max. _The Voice chimed in suddenly, but at the same time I didn't bother replying because I knew it would be long gone. Only making me more irritable.

"That's your choice." I told her aloud, my voice sounding hollow and almost overridden by the sound of me hollering back to Jeb that he needed to 'hold on a sec.'

Angel didn't say anything else after that, and that just made it harder for me to concentrate on the view unfolding before us.

"Maximum Ride!" Jeb called up the stairs. "Why on _earth _are you still in bed?"

"Because you haven't been yelling." My voice, tired and groggy, carried all the same. Jeb had to hide a smile, but rolled his eyes. "I'd still be asleep if you hadn't started."

"I know, Maxie, but the world-"

"Waits for no one, I know." My voice was getting louder and I soon could be seen, rubbing my eyes, and slowly stumbling down the stairs. "Where's everyone else?"

"Iggy and Nudge took Angel outside. I haven't asked what Gazzy's doing-"

"What?" I immediately woke, all traces of tiredness gone from my eyes as I splashed the bowl of cereal he had poured for me over. "He could detonate the house! And you let Iggy off on his own? It's _so _not my fault if they blow the house down. Please, please tell me Fang's watching them."

Gazzy, Ella, Nudge, Iggy, and Angel erupted in laughter. Mom even managed a tight laugh, and Fang cracked a smile.

Jeb's forehead creased. "What? Fang's asleep, why can't they be off-"

I was already sprinting through the house and outside, where a moment later there was a large bang, Angel crying, and the two pyro's and their immediate protests.

_"Well it wouldn't have gone off it you hadn't scared me!" _There was Gazzy.

_"You made me spill all the ammonium sulfate! And sulfur! Max, you are the definition of _dead._"_

_"Oh really?" _Came my reply. _"I think you have us reversed. Explosives. Now."_

Mom and Fang had cracked, the latter snickering quietly while mom joined in the hysterics that were taking place on the couch. I rolled my eyes, even though watching Jeb laughing in the kitchen just made the hollow ache in my stomach hurt even more.

"And I'll thank you," I snarled, pulling the two boys back into the kitchen. Both had their hair on end and faces covered in soot and God knows what. Fang had drifted silently downstairs, awoken by the yells from outside.

Fang raised one eyebrow, then turned to the counter to grab a banana. His eyes didn't leave Jeb.

"Fang," Iggy moaned, "tell her it wasn't our fault! It wouldn't have blown if she hadn't interfered-"

"Hell yes it would have, just not as soon." I snarled. "What have I told you about bombs and Angel?"

"Tell her, Fang!"

Fang smirked and took another soundless bite of banana.

"Jeb?" Nudge bounced over to him and grabbed his hand, shooting him the notorious Bambi eyes. "Can I have something to eat?"

"Actually, I'm sure Iggy wouldn't mind whipping something up for you. I need Max and Fang for a moment."

The half-eaten banana dropped to the floor with a muted thud.

"Oh?" Fang asked, his tone deathly quiet. It was that scary one he used, the one that just radiated 'don't mess with me, or you will regret it. That is not a threat. That is a promise. "So you need us?"

Everyone else in the kitchen had frozen; even Angel had stopped her crying. Beside me, Fang had stiffened into a birdkid statue at my side.

"Fang. I'm. Sorry. Truly, I am. You couldn't understand what would make me have to choose something like that, believe me. You have no idea how relieved I was that I didn't have to leave you-"

"Us." Fang jerked his thumb at Iggy. "Hopeless experiments. Failures."

"Well, no." Jeb bent down so he could be at Fang's height. Fang narrowed his eyes. "You must understand that even the best scientists make mistakes. I am far from the best, and what you're pointing out are just some of by biggest ones. It is true, I did say those things, but it was for a lack of information. Even now you have proved me wrong countless times. Look at yourself, in the past minute you've spoken nine words, that's more than you have in a month."

Iggy hissed from the couch. "Bad move. Very bad move."

"He had no sense of what to do with children, did he?" Nudge sighed, shaking her head. "Moron."

Yeah, they pretty much summed it up. Fang drew his foot back and snapped it forward, making Jeb tip onto the floor as his leg gave way. You could see my jaw stiffen, but I didn't make any move to stop Fang as he whisked from the room in anger, though he looked as calm as he had just moments before, eating breakfast. Luckily, Jeb caught the hint, and watched Fang leave the room without saying anything, then, staggering to his feet, he ushered me over. I glanced at Gaz, Nudge, and Ig who were watching and waiting for instruction. I jerked my head after Fang, back outdoors, and they quickly left the premises.

"Max, sweetheart." Jeb immediately launched into teaching mode. I pricked my ears and looked up at him, watching as he winced and took a moment to massage his leg. "One of the first rules of being a good leader, and one that you have already mastered much better than I, is to keep the peace between members of your group. You have to work as a team."

I waited, my brown eyes probing.

"Meaning you have to talk to Fang."

Instantly, my eyes narrowed. "Yeah," I told him. "Or I could just accept him for who he is, and not talk to him like you just did. Obviously I've succeeded in this area, my kneecaps aren't sprained." Then I turned on my heel, grabbed an apple, and stalked out of the room in the direction of the Flock.

"Sweetheart, wait a moment."

It was pathetic, really. It made me want to throw up a little inside. I hesitated.

"Practice your flying today, or fighting. We haven't done either in a while."

"You haven't done either in a while." I corrected him without turning my back. "I'm in bed till lunch because I don't waste the night sleeping. You know, flying, at night. Like you don't want us to do, but it's pretty awesome. I guess if it makes you feel better after being beat up by a 'failure' and 'hopeless experiment' though, sure, maybe Fang and I will spar later after I get him to calm down."

Then I slammed the door.

The screen went black again. Fang pressed 'stop' and the power button. We weren't halfway through the tape, and it wasn't helping to cheer me up at all.

_Please, _I prayed. _Someone clear the attention from Fang. He doesn't deserve this. _

His knuckles were white with the memory, etched clearly in my mind, of Jeb rushing into the lab and unlocking my cage first, then Gazzy's, Nudge's, and Angel's. Then pushing us out the door. When I realized what he was doing, I had ran back for Iggy and Fang and made Jeb bring them with us. Fang hadn't spoken in months. Iggy couldn't see. They had been slated for extermination.

"Max," Nudge began quietly. "I know you hate Jeb now, but you used to like him. I don't remember you fighting so often."

Again, these words tore holes in my heart. I decided to take a leaf out of Fang's book and shut it away, however the hell that worked. Or didn't. The only thing I succeeded in was a flat tone and a hell of a lot of pain in my chest. Was that how Fang felt every time he covered something up? The thought made me want to strange something, so I swallowed it down with lies along the lines of: _of course not, Fang's indestructible, _and the like.

"I only fought him when he was mean to my friends." I informed her as if telling her when her Wall Street Journal subscription would be arriving. All the same, I glanced at Fang. He hadn't moved.

"Why didn't he want you flying at night?" Ella asked, meeting my eyes. I smiled, quick thanks for diverting the conversation.

"Crashing into trees, etcetera. He was paranoid. We did it anyways."

"I got that. I think you ticked him off pretty nicely."

"Yep." I grinned. "It's a talent of mine."

"Just ask ter Borcht." Total snickered. "Remember when we went on that rant about how tacky their lab coats were? I mean, so last season. Ugh." He fluffed his brown fur in a shiver. I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled to my lips.

"Those lapels." I shook my head. "What do they do with themselves?"

"Doesn't _Vogue _ever offer them tips? Or were fashionistas not considered important enough for the By-Half plan?"

"I thought Mara had it going on with the spots." Nudge pointed out, snickering. "Quite the look. They could even have a whole faux fur line."

"Speaking of which, Max," Angel glanced at me, grinning, "you never got me one of those magic suit things."

"Dang," I sighed. "Sorry, sweetie. Nudge and I were otherwise occupied."

"Do I even want to know?" Gazzy groaned, holding his head in his hands as the boys, mom, and Ella watched the pair of us slowly reduce to hysterics.

"Oh, have faith, Gaz." I ruffled his blonde hair, "I mean, we were only promoting our new art gallery. 'Flock Splatter Art', I think we called it. Then we demonstrated how it worked. On the Director."

"You dropped her?" Iggy cackled. "Excellent!"

"Nah, we caught her with two hundred feet to spare." Nudge rolled her eyes. "Think she may have had a heart attack afterward though, combined with Max beating Omega."

"That would be quite possible." I mused. "ter Borcht, too. I told him to lay off the sweets."

"And where was this?" Mom asked faintly. "Wait, I think I agree with Gazzy."

"Germany." I replied promptly all the same. "At some castle."

"Castle?" Ella breathed, her eyes wide. "Was it cool? I've always liked medieval history, what with the heroes and knights and kings. Take away the plague and all that poverty and I think it could have been decent."

"Well," Total told her, "we weren't very good sightseers. I mean, we didn't get to any German museums! Only the French sculpture one, which we left because Maximum Charging Off Ultra-Paranoid Ride was afraid the sculptures would jump out and eat her. Then we were stuck in the castle dungeon, so sight seeing chances were slim."

"I wasn't afraid." I scoffed. "It was merely a precautionary action. And its just Max." I wouldn't lie and say I didn't charge off or wasn't ultra paranoid. I wouldn't. Like, a New Years resolution in the spring.

Fang managed a snort. I elbowed him.

"No," he snickered. "I think we should get you a birth certificate. Maximum Charging Off Ultra-Paranoid Ride. It has a nice ring."

"And we can get you one with Cult Leader Fangalator and find that blogger who called you that to give them partial credit."

"Cult Leader Fang would work." Nudge piped up over the laughter. "If he doesn't like the 'alator. Personally, I think that makes him sound like an alligator, but his blog's like a freaking cult. I remember those kids in Germany who had flaming arrows, it seriously was like the medieval stuff Ella talks about."

Fang simply raised his eyebrows.

"Since you weren't there, your bloggers were. Bashed the gates down. Chucked rocks and shot flaming arrows."

"Where were you?" Ella asked. "Was it you, Iggy, and Gazzy? You all seem as clueless as I am to what they're talking about."

Fang nodded, hesitated, then, "swimming."

"See," Gazzy began excitedly. "Flyboys were chasing us, you know? So he came up with this awesome plan and we rocketed like, straight into the ocean. Granted, we all had faces like plums afterward, but apparently water doesn't go over well in the Flyboy department."

I kept laughing long after Gazzy finished.

We had managed to talk about the separation without too much hurt or tears. What a nice change.

*******

Later that night, after we had gotten off our lazy butts and mom insisted Fang go outside if he couldn't stay in one room any longer, I stayed in the kitchen with mom while she began to trim my hair. Okay, I'll admit it. She had caught me with the scissors and a huge chunk already in the trash bin, then took over. I will also admit I was slightly relieved. We had been quiet for a while, listening to the soft snipping of the scissors and distant sounds of laughter from outside.

"Max," she finally asked me, smoothing the one side of my hair she had managed to cut to shoulder length, "I saw you during those videos. Are you sure you okay?"

I wanted to shrug it off, just ignore the burning sensation in the pit of my stomach, but then I could also feel the words bubbling on the edge of my mouth, just threatening to spill. I bit my tongue, trying to keep them in, and finally deciding on a short and snappy reply. Always a good option.

"I'm fine." I told her, sighing heavily. "It's just… kinda sad. You know?"

Mom actually laughed, though it was more like the laughter after someone tells a joke at a funeral. "Kinda sad, Max? Downright depressing. As a vet, I see animals raised in puppy mills where they never see the light of day, stay in crates when they're not abused, bred in large amounts just for profit so none are ever healthy. Then I also see the animals tested on, shampoo, toothpaste, dishwashing detergent, and I watch them as they flinch away from the crates in the waiting room at my practice." She cut another chunk of hair, but her hand was shaky. I felt the same way. "I watch as their owners have to carry them across the grassy path because the animals are afraid of plants. Of earth under paw. And I bet you'll guess what I'm getting at..."

"How much we reminded you of them." I closed my eyes. "Do we really flinch…?"

"At closed windows. Closed doors. Small rooms. I painted that bedroom upstairs, you know. It used to be a spare, you know. An off-white, until Angel chased Total up there and I found her crying."

Really? I held my breath, trying to keep from sobbing. She had never told me that.

"You've done a great job with them, though." Mom continued softly. "I know you're only fourteen, but you've taken care of them better than anyone could have. I just want you to know," she cut off another chunk of hair and began to even it out. "I'm proud of you."

I couldn't even manage a 'thanks.' I just nodded.

"But enough of this depressing stuff." After a moment, mom announced briskly, sounding back to her normal, peppy self. I smiled slightly. Moms are fabulous. "Is there anything going on between you and Fang?"

I couldn't help it. I giggled. "Don't go psycho over protective mom on me!" I laughed.

"There's no point switching to 'psycho over protective' mode," she grinned, "even if I wanted to, with you. I take that as a yes?"

"Well," I cleared my throat. "Kinda. Yeah. I guess."

"You don't sound so sure."

"It's just," I began, surprised at how the words felt ready on my tongue. "We've been best friends for so long. So even though, you know, I-"

"Love him. But continue." I blushed and nodded.

"Sometimes it's hard to get my head around it." I finished, my face red hot. I could feel mom's smile on her words.

"But you're happy? Actually, don't answer that. I know you are."

"Yeah." I sighed. "Pretty much."

Mom laughed again, smoothed my hair with one last snip, and pushed me off the stool I was sitting on.

"There." She told me, ushering me to the door. "Now go enjoy yourself."

I didn't need telling twice, so giving her a fleeting hug, I spun out the door and into the cool air.


	30. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

**Chapter Thirty!!!!!!!!**

**Holy crap, I can't believe I've written thirty freaking chapters. I know I keep saying this, but it's true. So butter me up and call me a biscuit. Whatever. Anyway, so you reviewers are totally awesome! And I will be answering a much-asked-for request in this chapter, so enjoy! **

**indescribable destruction-haha, yes, I thought Jeb was a little clueless. Thanks!**

**Kara Nicole-thanks! You'll like this chapter, if that's what you wanted…**

**Sky-Angel14-more is coming!**

**raikimonducktape99-request granted. It was time for some :D**

**Maddy-I put your cannibalism idea in here :D**

**Queen of True Love-thanks!**

**Kelsey Goode-updating…**

**Rainie16-glad it rocks, sweet and sour's good, though, right? **

**1910tsuki-hope you like this chapter, then :D**

**kels-it was just a short summary. His music choices will come up a lot, I'll put in BB. I knew I was forgetting one…**

Our game of tag ended rather abruptly when Fang had a random coughing spasm and nearly fell out of the air. Being the obnoxious and proud idiot that he is, he managed to fly down by himself, but surrendered when mom pushed us all inside, where he coughed until his face turned blue and mom declared house arrest. Well, actually, she suggested it, then with Fang's skeptical look, I enforced it.

"Yo, Ig, start up on the chicken noodle soup, will you?" I looked at Iggy across the kitchen, and seeming to read my mind, he was already making Gazzy read him a list of everything in the fridge. "I'm bringing the Prince of Darkness upstairs."

Fang rolled his eyes and gave me a look. I gave him one right back.

_Hell yes you're going to bed._

"Uh…yogurt. Milk. Half and Half. Leftover rice. Burrito shells. Chicken legs, tzatz-something Greek with yogurt in it. Dude," Gazzy turned to a frowning Iggy. "I've never made soup but I think you're outta luck."

"Doesn't canned work?" I asked Iggy, glancing at Fang quickly as he began to hack again. "Progresso? Campbells? Something you can buy two for one at a grocery store?"

Iggy pulled a face. "You mean those canned heart attacks that we resort to while on the run? I thought you wanted to keep his Majesty alive, and you not cooking is a start, but I'm sure he doesn't want a can of mechanically separated chicken soaked in dog throw up."

"He manages to survive on desert rat." I hissed snidely. "Rabbit. Cactus fruit. Leftover Chinese food. I'm sure Campbells will be fine."

"Doesn't Fang eating chicken noodle soup make him two percent cannibal?" Ella giggled suddenly, bending to a corner cabinet to find some canned dog throw up. She then handed it to Iggy, but he dropped it, busting his gut with what Ella said. I wasn't making any effort to stop my snickers either, but despite everyone else laughing, Fang was not amused. Quelle surprise.

"Yeah, 'cause he's not part chicken, but he's still part bird." Nudge shrieked, pounding her fist on the table.

Needless to say, Fang did not need more prodding to go upstairs.

"Cannibal." I was still smirking as I pushed him down on his bed and fell back onto mine. "I don't know how I live with you."

He didn't respond, other than a choking cough. I abandoned the suffocating sheets and folded down on the air mattress next to him, where he was staring out the window at the darkening sky.

For a moment, we just sat there, tuning out to the rattles in the kitchen and rooms below us, and watching as twinkling little stars blinked on in the night, before I murmured, "déjà vu, much?"

Fang nodded, saying nothing. Although it was quite possible for us to keep a conversation going with him keeping quiet, and even both of us in silence, there was no need for words now. Sometimes it's irritating. And sometimes it's the best thing on earth, that we can just accept each other and sit in silence. There's no need to fill it with mindless chatter.

Sometimes we fill it with not so mindless chatter though.

"Remember that night my mom was kidnapped?" I asked him quietly. "The stars were so bright, and they were everywhere. Like a big blanket in the sky."

I wasn't sure, but Fang seemed about to reply. That is, until Iggy kicked the door open and shoved a tray with a monstrous bowl of soup in Fang's direction.

"Please tell me you weren't just making out." He cringed. "A, I can hear it, and B, I swear to God if you ever ask me to make this crap again while we're living like civilized people, I will personally kill you. Flu germs can be transmitted through saliva-"

"Out!" I snapped, leaping forward and shoving him out the narrow door. What a sick, perverted sexist pig. I nearly pushed him down the stairs, but he casually leapt over the rail and landed on the ground with only a slight thud. Ella's jaw dropped open. Infuriatingly, he bowed low. I spat; making sure the glob didn't land anywhere else but on his head, then turned and headed back to my room. Fang, surprisingly calm, was already taking a small spoonful of soup. Leaning against the door, I looked down at him.

"How's your canned heart attack?" I asked mildly.

"Pretty damn good, for mechanically separated chicken in dog throw up."

"Glad to hear it." Again, I sat down next to him. He didn't bother to respond, just continued to suck up the soup a little faster than usual. Well, he hadn't eaten all day, and chicken noodle soup does wonders for colds, I'd had my fair share. Even though it looked like Iggy had cooked three cans of 'dog throw up', Fang managed to gulp it down faster then Ella with one human serving. I s'pose a little starvation, sickness, and not knowing when/if your next meal will be will to that to a mutant.

While he ate, I continued to watch the stars and pick out the few constellations Jeb had taught me all those years ago.

_"See those, Sweetheart? They form the big dipper. Right there's the North Star." _

_"Why the North Star? Why aren't the others named, too? Aren't they special?" I asked, concerned. Why did the North Star get all the glory? It wouldn't be the big dipper without the others._

_"Well, yes. They all have names, but the North Star is most important because it leads in the direction north. Over the years it has been a symbol of hope and freedom for countless people." He had paused, making sure I knew exactly which one was the star. "Sort of like you, Maxie. You'll lead everyone in the right direction. You shine the brightest." _

_"Oh!" I had exclaimed, completely misinterpreting it back at the E house. "So those other stars, that there, that one's Fang. And Iggy's right above him, then Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, right?" _

_Jeb had only nodded. Just once. Then I had taken it as confirmation, but looking back I knew he didn't really believe it. He was humored by my antics, and slightly touched, but nothing more. _

"Max." By his tone of voice, Fang had obviously said my name multiple times.

"Sorry." I shook my head, then met his dark eyes. Slightly watery, but concerned. "Just thinking."

"I got that much."

I smirked, nudging his shoulder with my own. "What do you need?"

He averted my eyes, looking down, then back out the window.

"Nothing." He murmured quietly. "You just had this look…"

I leaned my head on his shoulder for a moment. "I was thinking," I rephrased carefully. "About Jeb. Before he betrayed us."

Fang's silence egged me on.

"He taught me about the North Star, how it's part of the big dipper, and how it led people to safety and all that. Then he told me it was like me, that I was supposed to do that. But he didn't know the names of the other stars in the big dipper." I snorted, angry at myself for my own stupidity. "I thought, back then, I think I was eight, that he was just comparing us. I was one of the stars. So I named the others, I told him that the others were you five." Again, I shook my head. "He was talking about saving the world though. How I have to help everyone, lead them to safety, whatever the hell that means…" I broke off, unable to continue. Suddenly the night sky didn't seem very inviting at all. Has anyone ever told you that you have to save the entire frigging world? Maybe for someone like Bill Gates or whoever's president now it would work, but I'm fourteen. Sometimes it doesn't fell like I am.

"Max," Fang breathed my name again, not pulling his eyes away from the window. "We're with you, you know that, right? One hundred percent. Not just ninety-eight. I promise. Granted, if you are like the North Star, I guess you don't need us," he began to sound hesitant. "But we can be your support system, anyways."

"It wouldn't be the big dipper," I remembered what I had thought earlier with the hint of a smile. "Without the other stars."

Fang was quiet again after that, and was still looking out at the sky, but I could see the almost-grin on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" I nudged him again, seeing that familiar look in his eyes. Underneath his shadow of black hair, his black eyes met mine again.

"That night," he began quietly. "Your mom was kidnapped, the stars were incredibly bright, we were surrounded by too many robots to count, and Nudge left us." I could nearly see him ticking them off mentally. "And it was the first night you didn't run."

I hadn't forgotten about that, but I hadn't been thinking of it.

"What do you mean?" I asked, faking confusion. He shot me a look, a 'you know what I mean, quit the charade' kind. But beneath the mask, I could see a cleverly disguised glint of bittersweet happiness.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, "I was such an idiot, and I felt horrible after every time I did. I just…it was so overwhelming and I didn't want to get hurt and I didn't know what I was feeling and-"

But I broke off as his fingers, oh so tenderly, a word which I would never have associated with Fang previously, began to stroke my hair away from my face, and he leaned in to kiss me.

Yes, I felt the familiar squeam of delight, but also the slight urge to run, never put him in danger like this. The people, Mr. Chu, the whitecoats, the Director, all would target him if they realized what had happened between us. Granted, either way it would have torn me apart if anything had happened, but they're narrow-minded like that and think two people have to be in a relationship for pain.

But of course, I squished that down and leaned right in to knot my fingers in his hair and kiss him right back. I could feel him smiling against my mouth, and couldn't resist the grin that spread across mine. I would have been perfectly content to sit there forever, leaning into him like my life depended on it (hold on a second, it probably did), but of course, reality often gets in the way of such things.

In an instant, he broke away, hacking coughs into his sleeve. Holding back useless murmurs of comfort, I rubbed his back until they subsided.

"Damn flu." I half smiled. "Iggy would have my head if he knew…"

"Well, let's keep it at an 'if.'" Fang muttered hoarsely. No, we did not go making out in front of fellow members of the Flock. Or anyone, really. But yes, there were some 'PDA's' as Ella put it, holding hands, kisses on the forehead, nothing major. Fang and I are not really PDA people. Or PDA avian Americans, whichever you prefer. The Flock still knew we were 'together' as Nudge put it, but that didn't mean we had to flaunt it publicly.

And yes, to me 'public' is more than two people.

"Window's too small." I pointed out. "What say you to the roof?"

He grinned at me, completely blowing any active brain cells left out of my mind, and ducked in for another quick kiss before quickly removing the screen and pulling me out onto the top of the house. We sprawled out, laying down, on the steady slope to take in the full view of the Arizona sky. Granted, once we got up there, both of us stared into each other eyes for a moment. Or two. Okay, maybe more, but don't push it. I could see the strange golden flecks in his eyes, the slight cut above one, a scar from long ago. A corner of his lip twitched, but I couldn't resist and grinned. Another instant later, and he had rolled over to cup my chin and kiss me again. Shortly, quickly, but it was just as nice.

And though I was content to remain lip-locked to Fang for a few seconds longer, I wasn't content to get the flu. Fang either seemed to agree, sense this, or both, because instead he just wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer. I allowed him to pull me tight into his arms, both of us staring up at the sky, where coincidentally, the big dipper was shining quite brightly.

"That one," I freed one hand to point, "was Angel, and right next to her was Gazzy. Then Nudge, Iggy, and you."

The brief outtake of air from his throat proved just how happy he was. And call me corny and love struck, but his star seemed to agree, twinkling even brighter than usual.

*******

"Max!"

Dammit! I shot straight up, looking around wildly; ready to shred anything that came my way-

"_MAX!_"

Oh shit. Uh, I mean, crap. Telepaths-sheesh. I can't catch a break.

"Uh," I squeaked, "hi mom!" I called out slightly louder.

"Where in God's name were you?" She hollered out the window, sounding calmer, but anger now replaced the previous fear in her voice. "Scratch that. Where in God's name _are _you?"

"_Somewheeeeeerrrrrreeeeee over the rainbow…._" I began to half sing, half laugh loud enough for her to hear from wherever she was.

"Need I ask where Fang is?"

I shot a glance at him, now sitting silently by my side.

"He got crushed by my house. I think I'm gonna steal his shoes."

I had managed to crush mom's anger as if with a house, but humor is just so much better.

"I think they'd have to be red." Mom called back, laughing.

"Then I'll steal Iggy's clown shoes."

"I don't have clown shoes," the kitchen window must have been open. Dang. "But I am cooking your breakfast, Dorothy."

"Is Total down there?" I asked him. "I have to tell him we're not in Kansas anymore. At least, I think so."

Ah, now is the time for real cussing. I hear a spit of disgust, then the shallow crunches of gravel as Total stomped out of the house.

"Now that is just degrading!" He snapped. "I am part Scottie, not Cain terrier, as Toto is. Besides, you look nothing like Judy Garland! I consider it a personal offence when you mock the classics. Go find some gingham and then talk to me."

"What's gingham?"

There was a howl of frustration, and lots of laughter echoing from various parts of the house.

"The stuff that made Dorothy's dress." Ella called out helpfully, probably also in the kitchen.

"_What? _Dorothy wears a _dress_?" I snapped. "I take it back, I'm not over the rainbow, I'm, uh, where am I, Fang? Help me out here."

"The Ward for the Mentally Confused. Section B."

"The redcoats are coming! The redcoats are coming!" I hollered. "Isn't that from a movie or something? Or, no, Anne mentioned it. World War Two, right?"

"Try Revolutionary." Mom snorted. "But before you devote yourself to being Ben Franklin, I don't think you'd want to wear tights and collared shirts either."

"Yes. Thank you. Sorry, false alarm. The redcoats are not coming, I repeat, the redcoats are not coming."

"Glad to hear it!" I voice shouted from the road. I jumped about three feet in the air, bristling all over again, only to see a runner, waving. Mom laughed and waved back.

"Hey, Al! Good morning!"

"Val," the runner nodded, not slowing. "Training for a marathon, gotta go before it gets too hot."

"Good luck with that!"

I waited until he was well out of earshot, watching him from the roof until he disappeared far away.

"Well," I announced. "That was fairly interesting."

_You're from Middle Earth. _I jumped all over again, earning yet another concerned look from Fang. He must get tired of that.

_Hey, Voice. Long time, no hear. Any fortune cookie news to share?_

_No. _It surprised me by responding. _But you could be in Middle Earth. _

"The Voice says I'm in Middle Earth!" I declared loudly. "Hark! Look there, Captain Fang!" I shook his shoulder roughly and pointed to the deserted road. "An orc party on the horizon, ready the steeds!"

Fang laughed out loud, rolling his eyes.

"They bear the white hand!" He replied, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "What say you?"

"Honestly?" My stomach rumbled. "I say screw the peasants. I'm hungry."

"Ig!" Fang called down from the roof, flipping half over the edge so his head hung in the kitchen window. "Chicken soup?"

"Why should I do anything for you two, you filthy pawns of Sauron! Freedom! Justice! Equality! Explosions! All that good stuff, and you're letting the orcs ruin it! I protest!"

I flipped down next to Fang, so we were both hanging in the window. Nudge, Gazzy, Ella, Akila, Magnolia, Iggy, and now mom were gathered in the kitchen. I could hear Angel talking to someone upstairs. Probably Total.

"I protest your protest." I declared. "And being higher in rank, you have to suck it up. Pancakes are in the same category as all the things you just named, so stand by your opinions and make me some."

Iggy muttered something about slave labor, but grinned in our direction, mouthed 'morning' and turned back to the griddle. Judging by the dirty plates at the table, Nudge, Gazzy, and Ella had already finished. Akila was chowing on some commercial dog food next to Magnolia. Dog food and the basset hound would explain why Total had retreated upstairs.

"Come ye peasant folk!" I grinned at them, swaying back and forth, before flipping off and landing on my feet in front of the window. Coordination, and being able to flip over stair rails and roofs. Just two of the perks of being a mutant.

"Max, can't you be from, I dunno, _Confessions of a Shopaholic?_" Nudge begged me around a mouthful of pancake. "Then you'd let us by stuff for you, which you look gorgeous in. Combat boots were out of style at the end of World War Two."

"Yeah, but they're sure as heck effective for knocking someone's face in." I replied cheerily. "Besides, you made me get sneakers. What else do I need?"

"Yeah, Nikes. Running shoes. You don't have to wear heels or anything, just-"

"Something totally ineffective if I get kidnapped?"

This silenced Nudge, though I could see a smirk on her lips.

"Besides," I leaned against the window, unwilling to enter the stuffy kitchen. It seemed Fang was as well, because he didn't move, though his face looked flushed. "Nike was a goddess of victory. I read that somewhere."

"Greek or Roman." Ella informed me, taking a sip of apple juice. "Can't remember which."

"Where on earth did you find that out?" Iggy asked, looking up at me over the flipping pancakes. "No, the Voice told you."

"Do you really have that little faith in my learning capabilities?" I put a hand to my chest, faking offence.

"Was it, then?"

"No."  
"Angel."

"No."

"Anne's school?"

"I didn't learn squat there, besides how to make up commandments and crap."

"Priceless." Iggy chortled. "I wonder how the ol' headhunter is?"

"Probably had a heart attack." I reasoned. "High blood pressure. I was gonna experiment on how long it took for me to give him one, but then he pulled out the taser, so that plan backfired…"

"Wish we could have seen that." Iggy continued. "But seriously. Where?"

"Honestly? They made me learn the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses at the School and made me to Eleven Labors like Hercules."

Iggy suddenly paled. Everyone went quiet, staring at me. Well, until Ella laughed.

"Nice try. Hercules had Twelve Labors. How did you learn about Nike?"

"Europe guidebook Angel picked up on a plane. It was the only thing to do besides listen to the Voice…" I trailed off, snagging a pancake from the plate Iggy carried past. "They had a whole section on mythology."

"Didn't you know Hercules had Twelve Labors then?" Ella asked skeptically. "It's kinda famous."

I rolled my eyes. "So are rapists. I forgot. Eleven, Twelve, who cares? I fell asleep halfway through reading about Zeus, and speaking of rapists…"

"The hydra. The lion."

"Yeah, well, they're dead."

"GEEK FIGHT!" Gazzy yelled, interrupting Ella and I, and our debate, which was slowly leaning toward argument. I snickered.

"Geek fight." Total snorted, trotting into the room with Angel at his heels. "As if any of you bird kids bother about anything geeks would be concerned about."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure we could write our own _Worst Case Survival_ handbook…" Gazzy chuckled. "Don't geeks read stuff like that?"

"I mean literature! The arts! Shakespeare! Kids these days are always labeling us fans as geeks, totally prejudiced, you see. I actually borrowed Fang's computer last night and blogged about him, Shakespeare, you know, oh _shit." _

Total, apparently, had not realized that Fang was in the window, and was now glaring bombs at him. Yes, you heard me correctly. Daggers are tame compared to Fang's wrath. Total yelped, stuck his tail between his legs, and ran. Into Angel. Then through her legs.

"I didn't know Total swore." Angel mused. "He sounds like Sweeney Todd."

"Who, sweetie?" I asked, accepting the plate Iggy pushed onto the window sill for me.

"Oh, you know, the demon barber of Fleet Street. I watched it last night, it was on TV."

This apparently had more effect on mom and Ella than the rest of us, staring at Angel blankly.

"You watched _Sweeney Todd_?" Mom asked her, trying to control some emotion. "You know why that's rated R, right?"

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't that bad. Plus Johnny Depp was in it. And Helena Bonham Carter. There's a song Fang listens to called 'Helena.' It was good though."

"What was it about?" I asked her. If it was rated for violence, she could handle that, but now I knew to lock the TV at night. Better to be safe than sorry, which I never though I'd say before.

"Oh, just some crazy barber who lopped people's heads off. Then his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett, made them into meat pies and sold them to people. I bet Total could help me with the musical numbers."

_Lopped people's heads off. _I mouthed.

Fantastic. No wonder she had slept in, I doubted she had gotten any sleep the night before.


	31. Toast Doesn't Count

**Chapter Thirty-One**

**So has anyone read **_**Unwind? **_**I just finished it, and first I think it was the creepiest book I've ever read (despite what my mom says about James Patterson, I love his books, so I think she's crazy), but it was also awesome. If you have a taste for the creepy awesome, I'd suggest it. I'd suggest it anyways, so there. Hehe, Nerd Alert. Sometimes my friends don't always appreciate my pushing books on them, so feel my book wrath. Unless you're all "nerds" like me, then you can enjoy it… Okay, random update over. Now onto reviewers…**

**By the way, Angel's favorite song in Sweeney Todd was also Maddy's idea :D**

**Queen of True Love-yeah, I like being amusing :D**

**raikimonducktape99-oh, I'm glad they didn't bother you. Poor Total and him having to deal with it, though…**

**Maddy-I know! I bet Max will kill Total or something, he's supposed to have a clean mouth. I guess she just watched it with Ella or something now that they aren't running as much. (Or flying, whatever.)**

**Random5185-hehe, nice.**

**Rainie16-updating! Haha, nice :D**

After breakfast and a shower, Angel nearly tackled me as I stepped out of my room in fresh clothes.

_"MAX!" _She screamed in a pitch only dogs should hear. Note, I said, 'should.' _"IGGY SAYS HE'S MAKING MEAT PIES FOR LUNCH! TELL HIM HE CAN'T, I DON'T KNOW WHERE DR. M GOT HER MEAT!"_

_"ANGEL!" _I screamed right back. "Ears, for the love of God!"

She silenced, but kept her firm grip around my neck as I gave her a piggyback downstairs.

"Now," I told her, my ears ringing. "Please start over. Iggy said-"

"He's making meat pies for lunch! He went up and asked how I liked the meat, medium rare or not. And whether I thought scientists were tasty, then he asked if he should ask Fang since one time Fang took a chunk out of one's leg back at the School! And then he didn't understand why I said we couldn't have meat pies! But-"

"What is wrong with meat pies?" I asked her, praying to anything that would listen it didn't have anything to do with Sweeney Todd.

"Well, in Sweeney Todd, the barber, Sweeney, he is angry at all the people in London-" _Oh shit. _"And you say not to swear, so don't think it! Anyway, he has anger management, but you don't get it! _Iggy's making meat pies!_" Then I felt her bury her head in my neck. I patted her head with one hand, and sighing heavily, hurried outside to find Ella.

"Ella!" I hollered, but I could already see her pushing Gazzy on an old tire swing in the yard. The others were gathered around, Fang's being sick did not deter him from blogging. She looked over.

"What the hell is wrong with meat pies?" I sprinted over, making sure Angel didn't fall off my back, but still felt her brush rather uncomfortably against my wings.

"Language, Maximum-"

"Oh don't you start, Iggy. I'm deciding what to do with you."

"What do you mean?"

_"I mean the fact that Iggy told Angel he's making meat pies and all she can say is 'Sweeney Todd'!"_

Ella's mouth dropped open. Iggy looked sheepishly down at the ground. I had no idea what he had done, but I knew he had meant it. He was the definition of dead. Forget that, his breathing was digging his grave.

"Is that the horror movie Angel stayed up watching?" Nudge asked. "That she was talking about this morning?"

Angel nodded into my shoulder.

"Well?" I egged Ella on, but suddenly she turned to Iggy and kicked him in the shins.

"_You said that to Angel?_" She shrieked at him, landing another blow. He jumped back, yelping, and trying to dodge her flailing feet, to no avail. _"You knew what she would think! You _idiot!"

"It was a joke!" He yelled, slipping to the side to avoid her foot. "Okay? I was kidding! We don't even have any meat to make meat pies out of! Angel, call her off! I'm _sorry!_"

I'll admit it; the whole affair would have been hilarious if I didn't feel Angel cutting off the airflow in my neck. Carefully, I peeled her from my shoulders and placed her on the grass in front of me. "Now," I told her. "Tell me what this is all about."

"Ask Ella." She said into her arms, glaring a lost glare at Iggy. Gazzy also had a wasted effort, rolling his eyes at the older boy. Yeah, he got owned by a human without a gun. Ouch. That was going to hurt his ego, granted, I wasn't sure how he could even fit it through the door, but whatever.

"Sweeney Todd gets back to London after he was sent away for ten years. He's full of hate, thirst for revenge, all that crap. But the only things he possess after the time away, is his house next to his neighbor and baker, Mrs. Lovett, and his barber tools." Ella sighed heavily, still glaring daggers at Iggy who was hiding behind Gazzy. "One thing leads to another, and eventually, he kills some of his customers which he pushes down a chute to Mrs. Lovett's, where she makes them into meat pies."

I blanched. "She makes the _humans_ into meat pies?"

"Well that's kinda gross." Nudge pulled a face. "I thought musicals were supposed to be happy things, you know? Like Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. I saw those advertised on Broadway, when we were in New York, though I don't think anyone else was paying attention."

"God, Angel!" I looked up in exasperation. And hoped no birds suddenly decided to relieve themselves, my eyes were wide open. "This is why you don't watch movies that I tell you not too!"

"I know, Max." She buried her head in her hands. "But I liked the songs! Especially 'These Are My Friends' which Sweeney sang to his knives."

"He _sang _to his _knives?_" I asked her, curling my lip. Angel nodded, blonde curls bobbing.

"Oh, and 'There's No Place Like London' was my second-favorite. '_There's a hole in the world, it's a grea,t black pit and the vermin of the world inhabit it,_'" she sang softly. That was it. I was banning Angel from anything I didn't say she could watch. "No!" She protested, hearing my thoughts. "It was a great rhyme! But I was thinking it matched the School better than London. Didn't we go to London in Europe? I forget, we went a lot of places, but except for the castle, nice places."

_"'There's a hole in the world, it's a great, black pit,'"_ I repeated faintly. Then I whipped around to Iggy, who seeming to sense me, flinched.

"And you told her you were making meat pies!" I snarled at him. "You are dead! I swear on the world that I will personally kill you! Nudge, find me a shovel. Officials are so picky about body disposal-"

"Wait." Fang's voice, croaky, carried all the same. I hesitated. Iggy breathed out a sigh of relief. "Can't you wait till I hunt down Total?"

"Why?"

"Blog."

Uh-oh. "Can I see?"

In response, he turned the screen to me. I walked over, squinted my eyes in the light, and carefully began to decipher what was on-screen.

"_Fang's Blog,_" I read aloud. _"Visitor number, _I can't count that high. Wow. Nice. Anyway," I scrolled down, aware that our audience number was slowly growing. "_Hello, and welcome to Fang's Blog! Really catchy, isn't that? Though not very original, I know some great literary officials who could school the Fangster on originality, _Fangster?" I cracked, giggling madly. "_Anyway, you're probably all wondering who I am, because the only reason that Fang would be writing this way was if he was on drugs. Which honestly, I'm not sure about. If he's not, he should be. Avian flu, you see. Dr. M has been trying to quarantine him, but if you guys are regulars on here, you would know that these birdkids aren't big into the whole 'stay here, go there' thing. _Well, he got one thing right… hmm, do your readers even know who he is? Ah, here we go. _Oh, I'm rushing myself. Excuse me. I'm Total, the loyal dog of the Flock. By the way, is that capitalized? I think I'll call them 'flock' because doing the shift key with paws is such a hassle. Not only am I remarkably up to date on different wines and cheeses of western culture, I also have wings, can talk, and can jump up to thirty feet high. But these things are mere trivial facts compared to the real point of the matter._

_I am madly in love. _

_Yes, I know. I sound so… so young. So in denial, immature, naïve. But it is the truth, I have found my Juliet. My Scarlett. My Max- _WHAT?_" _I blushed furiously, all the while ready to tear Total into little pieces for writing 'my Max, for Fang, that is. You should see those two kids, so cute.' But I refused to read it out loud, despite the howling laughter and protests for me to finish. Fang coughed as if to say, 'tell me about it.' "_My soulmate. And no, young ladies, I'm sorry to say it is not to you I am pledging my eternal love, but to another. Her fur is as soft as a chick's down, and the color of fresh fallen snow on Christmas. Nothing personal to any Jewish people out there, but I celebrate Christmas. Her eyes? Nearly indescribable, and if ever I was to drown, it would be in the depths of their deep, bronze coloring. Flecks of amber draw me in closer to her night black, wet, nose. I am using this blog, with over, _there's that number again." I said grudgingly, trying to remain stoic as I continued to read Total's note. Fang would have been laughing, had he not been infuriated at Total for blogging. _"Hits so that you all may know my dire need, to profess my love to the queen of the universe and all who reside in it. Akila, my sweet, I know you can't read or speak English, but that does not make you any lesser of a Malamute. You are God's gift the world. _

_"It is true, I am no Shakespeare, but thank you for listening to my schpeel, which Max says is 'sickening.' I can't see _why, _the way she looks at-_okay! Let's go skewer Total and roast him on a spit." But everyone, even Angel who had previously been terrified of human meat pies, was rolling in the sparse grass in helpless laughter. Ella's face was blue, she couldn't breathe. Iggy was pounding the ground as tears streamed from his eyes, and Nudge and the younger two were on their backs, choking. Fang and I exchanged a look, so I scrolled down to see some comments, and read them to myself.

**prettygurlllz13 says…**

**oh fang! i hope ur feeling better! 3 3 3**

I decided to ignore that.

**SaveTheEarth says…**

**Uhm… wow, Total…**

**Fang? When are you gonna come back and post something that doesn't make me laugh, but throw up a little inside?**

Fang began to type quickly.

_As soon as I skewer Total._

_-Fang._

**itistheendoftheworld says…**

**Look, Total. It's pointless, didn't you know the Mayan prediction of the end of the world being 12/12/12? You won't have very much time together. Granted, neither did Romeo and Juliet…**

**SierraB says…**

**You guys FINALLY got together! Not you, Total. Nothing personal, but Fang and Max. It was time, already! Fang, you were obviously heels over head (yes, I'm a Boys Like Girls fan) for Max, and Max… a little dim, there, I think. Sorry, but I could tell from the books, which you wrote! And thanks again for Bertucci's… But, uh, congrats, Total. Soulmate. Awesome. **

Fang and I exchanged a look, me feeling a slight blush.

"Was it really that obvious?"

"I liked you or you liked me?"

"I got that you liked me after you kissed me."

"Couldn't tell when you liked me."

"Yeah, well, guess we're on the same page." I snorted. "Guess I'm not that dim. Oh, hush." I jabbed him as he snorted.

**AbCdEfGiWANTWINGS!!!!!!! says…**

**okay, total, nothing personal, but I always hated shakespeer and all the 'classics.' theyre only famous because the authors are dead and the books are so bad theyre famous for that, because theyre so bad they hav 2 b famous. get better books. read maximum ride and eragon. **

I snickered. Yeah, Total reading my books. Maybe when Gazzy won the lottery and stopped smelling bad, Iggy got his sight back, Nudge went mute, Angel stopped watching horror movies, Fang got a motor mouth, and I went had the bizarre and unsuppressed urge to become a scientist and take over the world with my army of mutants.

No idea where I got that idea.

**Shadestar says…**

"**Eyes the color of fresh fallen snow on Christmas?" That's kinda cute, but glad you found someone. Er, somedog. I dunno. **

**Hehe, Avian Flu. Sorry for my immaturity, but my cousin had that and she's not part bird, and it wasn't half as funny then! Get better, dude. **

They continued like this for some time, some thought Total was cute, some thought he was crazy. Correction: knew he was crazy. Granted, however pissed I was at him, it was kinda cute that he went online to millions of readers and professed his love. It's not every day that things like that happened. Not that I would know, but it's reality…

"Well, Fang." I said seriously, shutting the laptop with a 'click.' "I'm sorry, but Total has just proved to me how lacking you are. I mean, you haven't gone and written me a sonnet online for all your readers!"

He rolled his eyes, knowing I was kidding, even though everyone started laughing all over again. Just to be sure, though, I leaned against his shoulder and kissed him quickly on the cheek. I slight smile appeared on his lips, but then he coughed again, and rolled his eyes in the classic 'why me?' gesture.

"So, guys," I said, leaning away. "What's the plan for the day? It all seems so quiet without having to be in Florida or somewhere in an hour."

"No shopping!" Iggy announced immediately, throwing his hand over Nudge's mouth before she could even make a noise. She bit him, but kept her lips shut firmly, as if to say, 'see? You don't need to do that.'

"I concur." Ella announced gratefully at the same time that Fang nodded and I sighed,

"Thank God." Angel and Nudge were outnumbered, plus they liked to do more than shop, so we could find something else.

"How about an aquarium?" Angel asked, but was quickly interrupted by Gazzy who claimed it was boring. Plus, you know, how people would start to stare when the sharks waved and the penguins welcomed Angel in their exhibit.

"I don't want to watch any movies." Nudge announced. "And we don't have to shop, so suck on that, Iggy." I laughed. "But we could go find a park or something, and we could have a water balloon fight, but I think we used up all those last time. Oh! You know what cool show I watched the other day? Top Chef! They have different chefs and they compete for best dessert, entrée, and appetizer, I think. I bet Iggy could trump all those suckers, plus he's blind, so that would be an extra burn on those suckers. There's six of us, so that could work, I think. But in the kitchens they have, like, a million ovens and freezers, so our kitchen might be a little cramped-"

"Hold it," I clamped my hand over her motor mouth. "Six? Us plus Ella, right?"

"No." She pushed my hand. "There's no way we're letting you in the contest!"

"Well it would guarantee that the rest of us wouldn't lose first." Gazzy pointed out, cackling manically. "I think the judges would drop dead at the sight of it, let alone eating Max Food."

"Who would the judges be?" I sniffed. "I bet I can make something that any one of you could eat."

Everyone froze, looking at each other, and that was when they burst into, "well I'm not being a judge if Max is cooking!" and "Gazzy can do it!" then "Fang's her boyfriend, so he should be judge!"

"Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge." I said loudly over the caterwauls. "Because toast doesn't count."

Angel fell onto her back, clutching at her throat. Nudge began to wail. Gazzy started pulling on Iggy's shirt yelling "put me out of my misery! You can have my bombs! Just don't make me eat it!"

"And me, Ella, Fang, and Iggy can compete!" I finished triumphantly. No, I couldn't cook to save my life (that was where sarcasm came in) but I wouldn't let them do that. Maybe I'd bend my own rule and make a PB&J. I can make that, at least. But what to do for dessert? Uh.. peanut butter and fluff? Fluff is sugary. Or what about the fudge recipe on the back of the fluff container, 'never fail fudge.' Apparently I couldn't fail at that.

"I'm sick." Fang protested in his own way, meaning that he said it tonelessly but was pointing something out with a ton of logic. I hate it when he does that. "Therefore."

"Fang, sneeze on her!" Gazzy turned to beg to Fang. "Get her sick! Make it so she can't compete either! Save our souls! SOS!"

"Don't you dare." I backed away from the black wraith, who suddenly had a very evil look on his face. He rolled his eyes, coughed once in my direction (totally faked) and nodded at me. At least I have one supporter.

"Who's the host?" Nudge asked. "I talk enough for one, but it's considered rude when the contestants throw their hands over the host's mouth. Since Fang's not a judge or contestant 'cause he sick, he could be one, but he doesn't talk enough for one, so I think Gazzy should be the host. He has a good host voice."

"_Hello!_" Gazzy announced, throwing his hands wide (and hitting Ella in the face) "Sorry, Contestant Ella. Anyway, here we are on this season of _Top Chef! _Sponsored by Fang's Blog and the blockbuster Maximum Ride book series. Well, actually, we still need to find our way to the kitchen, but in the meantime, let's meet our contestants! First we have Contestant Ella, who I just whacked in the face. Not only is she an attractive thirteen year old with limited cooking experience, but she speaks multiple dialects and can quote Harry Potter! Let's hear it for talent!"

The rest of us clapped, laughing, while Ella took a bow.

"Next we have Contestant Iggy! My partner and mentor in crime who can cook gourmet with his eyes closed! How's that, ladies and gents?"

"You sound like Ryan Seacrest!" Ella laughed. "From American Idol!"

Gazzy's grin just expanded. "No, that was my Next Food Network Star Host voice, here's Ryan Seacrest." He took a breath, flashed a sparkling grin at all of us and announced, "and welcome back to Top Chef! I'm Ryan Seacrest, I've finally come to terms with the fact that I cannot sing and much prefer to eat marvelous foods! Therefore, our last contestant is sort of redundant, but anyway, here's Contestant Max, who can talk her way out of anything but can't boil water."

By now, everyone, including me, was laughing too hard to clap.

"Now," Gazzy tried to choke down his cackles so he could speak properly and just managed. "Introducing Judge Angel who has tested foods all around the world, including chocolates in Germany!"

Angel grinned. I remembered the chocolates, they had alcohol in them, which we only figured out after Gaz had stuffed his face with the rest and thrown up.

"Judge Nudge! Hehe, that rhymes, anyway, this cuisine expert knows what she's talking about having lived with Iggy all these years and been the only one brave enough to test his first attempts to cook! Here we have Fang, our photographer and personal gargoyle statue." We all laughed harder. "Then, there's me. Now, after this brief commercial break, you'll find us indoors. We had to downscale the kitchens, so this should be interesting! When we get back you'll see our three contestants each prepare an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, in that order, though I much prefer dessert, dessert, dessert, but Max says that's not good if we get attacked by M-Geeks. Over and out!"

*******

"What's going on?" Mom asked warily, watching us troop into the kitchen and take our places. Fang followed after her, camera in hand, and sat down next to the three at the kitchen table. "Max?"

"Well," I told her. "We didn't know what to do, and Nudge started talking about Top Chef, and it was sort of a joke, but then it wasn't… Can we borrow the kitchen?"

"I'm Ryan Seacrest!" Gazzy told her excitedly. "Fang is Simon Cowell and the cameraman. Nudge and Angel are guest judges, and Iggy, Ella, and Max are competing."

Mom's brow furrowed as she looked at me. I whistled innocently. "I thought…"

"That I can't cook? Well, yeah, but I can make toast!"

"Which you outlawed." Nudge smirked. "No toast."

"Cereal!"

"Attention, Judges, Contestants, and Dr. M, our first official live audience. We have three meals, starting with appetizers, then after we judge that, we have dinner, then dessert. It has to be an actual meal that people would eat. Meaning, no bowls of ice cream for an appetizer. Granted, that's only because we need fuel if we get attacked before dinner, like Max says. Otherwise,"

"Yes, I'd be fine with dessert for dinner. But we get what you mean." I interrupted him. "Mom, you can watch if you want. How much time do we have?"

"Half an hour." Nudge piped up, setting a timer. "Starting…"

"What's going on?" I jumped as Total walked into the room, sniffing. "Did I hear someone say Top Chef? I'll be Judge Total as a distinguished guest from the Carribean and an expert on cuisine."

"Okay!" Angle patted the bench beside her. "You can join Nudge, Gazzy, and me." Total wriggled down next to Angel, and placed his paws on the table.

"Alright!" He barked. "When do we start?"

Ella, Iggy, and I shuffled around the kitchen, trying to find clean countertops, but once I had found a largeish one, Fang pushed me over.

"Changed my mind." He said dryly, eyeing Total. "Total can be my own personal judge."

And yes, it is possible to pale when you're a dog.

"But…but…no! This is revenge, isn't it? For the blog? It's not like it killed you or anything! I'm not some psycho, I just professed my love to a malamute! Is that so unheard of?" Fang just nodded along with Total's stuttering, already pulling out a cutting board. "I bet your readers loved me! I bet-"

"They asked if you were on drugs." I finished dryly. "Fang told them yes. You picked it up from a gang in LA."

Total's mouth dropped open, then his eyes screwed up in fury.

"This means war, Punk! You're messing with the wrong person! You will rue the day you decided to enter this contest-" Fang turned around slowly, narrowing his eyes. Total squeaked and dove beneath the table, and Fang raised his eyebrow as if to say, "you were saying?"

Then around everyone's laughter, Nudge managed to press the button. "Sta…start!" She shrieked, then buried her head in her hands as her shoulders shook with laughter. Fang and I looked at each other. Neither of us knew how to cook anything if it wasn't over a small campfire outdoors, and then it was usually Oscar Meyer…

"We're cooking outside." Fang announced, grabbing something from the fridge. I also explored the inventory, and snatched a plate and a chunk of smoked gouda. Ella and Iggy were already tearing into flour and various other ingredients, so rolling my eyes, we trooped outside.

"Share the campfire?" I asked, already gathering some small twigs. It wouldn't take much. Fang nodded, struck some stones, (yes, he can make fire from rubbing stones) and we quickly made ourselves a small fire. Handing him a paper plate, I began to cut some slices of Gouda and place them on a small, thin piece of slate. I pushed them around some as they began to warm and brown, and only when the stone got to hot for me to hold, did I peel them off and place them on the plate. Fang was still working on his turkey slices, coughing once over his shoulder.

"Five minutes!" Angel called from the window. "And Fang, please don't poison Total."

Fang smirked.

I began to arrange to cheese slices in a neat little circle on the plate, cutting some of them smaller, to eventually get a curlicue. That would definitely earn points from Angel and Nudge. I glanced over, and Fang was just layering his neatly on the plate, when Angel called out in our minds, _Time! C'mon in. Fang, I was serious. _

"So was I." He muttered darkly. "Bank the fire?"

I shook my head. "We may need it for dinner." But we did pile more stones around it to make sure it wouldn't burn any of the sparse grass around it, then we trooped inside to where Ella and Iggy where lined up, grinning widely. I have to admit, I was pretty happy about my dish. Sure, it was cooked over a fire, but it looked pretty good, and I don't think the judges had any qualms about smoked cheese.

"Barbarians." Total scoffed as we came in. "Cooking over a campfire… This is western civilization, here!"

"And who pray tell has eaten all the food we've cooked for him over a campfire? Who sleeps with a barbarian?" I prodded him, glaring. "Besides, it's in the rules, you have to eat what we cook. And I didn't burn my food."

"Fine." He sniffed. "If it's so fabulous, let's see it then. Bring on the charcoal mess!"

I shot Fang a look. _You better cough on his food. _He nodded, smirking, and I pushed the plate on the table toward the four judges, all of them had their mouths wide open.

"Don't catch flies." I snickered. "You can ask Fang, he saw me make it."

Fang nodded, the makings of a smile on his face.

"Well," Nudge began bravely, grabbing a piece between her fingers. "It doesn't smell poisoned, Fang would have said if you had been cloned, and I trust you, so…" She closed her eyes and swallowed it.

"Get the CPR kit." Gazzy announced, but Nudge shook her head.

"No! No, it's actually pretty good! Five out of five, and I liked the design!"

Angel and Gazzy also awarded me five points, but giving cheese to Gazzy made me wonder if it had been such a good idea… And then it was Total's turn. Quickly, he snarfed it down…

"My!" He announced. "This is actually edible! Not exquisite, of course, but I marvel at your choice of cheese. Gouda has always been a favorite-"

"Yeah, yeah." Iggy grumbled. "Try Ella's."

"I made salad!" She placed the bowl on the table. "With Honey Mustard dressing, which I love. It also has carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and croutons."

"I'm not a rabbit," Gazzy said around a forkful. "But I do like it. Surprisingly. Four out of five, because you'll regret feeding me onions."

Oh God. Good point. We all flinched, even though Angel, Nudge, and Total gave it five points.

"Iggy's turn." Fang said at the same time that Iggy pushed Fang forward.

"Total has to test yours." Fang nudged Iggy. "Before he keels over."

"Good point." Iggy laughed, grabbing a dish, smelling cheesy, fried, like literal food heaven. Mozzerella sticks. Homemade. There was even enough for all of us, so he handed them out, and even Chicken Noodle Soup Man ate it. I didn't need the panel of judges to tell me they were fabulous on a scale of one to five. Breading, herbs, cheese… I didn't know the actual terms, even though Total started in a huge rant about ingredients, but it was really good.

"Fang's turn!" Nudge clapped her hands excitedly. "What is it?"

"Smoked turkey with toothpicks." Fang told her, handing she, Angel, and Gazzy one, then the last one to Total, when he started coughing nonstop. Eyes tearing, finally, he managed to get it under control. I could see the evil glint in his eyes, though. The coughing hadn't been faked, but it had been perfectly timed. I couldn't decide if Total looked more disgusted or infuriated as his piece of turkey was 'tainted.'

"Wow, sorry." Fang sniffed, glancing at Total. "Don't know what came over me there, Punk."

"I refuse to eat that." Total recoiled from the roll of ham. "You sick, sick, child."

"It's in the rules!" I laughed. "You were the one who declared war."

"This…this…this is tyranny. This is hitting below the belt. This isn't fair-"

"All's fair in love and war." Fang smirked. "As a 'literary genius', shouldn't you know that?"

"Well," Total blustered after a moment, failing to come up with something better. "Don't expect me to play fair!"

"Eat the turkey." Angel prodded. "It's the rules."

"You asked for it," Iggy snickered. "Punk…that was great." He dodged the kick Fang aimed at him, though Fang was half-smiling. When he thought we weren't looking, Total licked up the roll of turkey, before daintily removing the toothpick. After swallowing, he pulled a face and jumped off the bench, coughing theatrically.

"Don't worry." I told mom as she got up worriedly. "He's just acting. He thinks the world is his stage."

"I'm…taking…emergency…leave." Total gagged, throwing one paw over his eyes. "I'm…seeing stars! Hark, what is that? No, not the light! Look at what you have done to me, Fang. I thought we were buds, pals, you know," Fang's expression was priceless, and everyone started laughing all over again. Nobody had ever called Fang a 'pal' or 'bud.' Next it was gonna be- "We were BFF's! The seven of us always thwarting evil, but one of our own has gone bad-"

"Total," Angel warned. "I would leave before he kicks your Big Furry Fanny from here to next Friday."

"Degrading," Total simpered. "I have never seen such tyranny, and in the heart of loyalty itself! I thought you kids were all right before, but alack, we can all make assumptions…"

"Somebody get the dog out." Iggy smirked. He knew what would happen, it was the easiest way to bring Total out of his moping. Granted, he'd be p'od after, but it works…

"The _dog out_?" Total was suddenly on his feet, looking at us in rage. "Am I just some demoralizing canine now? Has it come to this? I will be in Ella's room, and if I see that big oaf you call Magnolia I will kick her out," I won't bore you with the rest of it, but I could hear him grumbling as he stalked upstairs.

"Thank you, Ig." Ella sighed. "Couldn't we just dump him on Broadway? They'd love him."

"Why, though, Fang?" Mom sighed wearily, though I could see a small smile on her face.

He shrugged. "He blogged. About Akila."

"And did someone really ask if he was on drugs?"

He nodded, coughed once, and sat down.

"You forfeit?" I asked him.

"No one else to poison. What's the point?"

Iggy, Gazzy, and Ella were now roaring in laughter. Guess it had been that kind of morning. Nudge, Angel, and mom didn't seem to know if they should be annoyed or amused. While I looked at all them, laughing, I could hear a few near silent clicks of the camera, and I turned to give Fang a quick grin, to see that he, too, was smiling. There was another click, and I saw him turn the camera in my direction. We met each other's eyes for a moment, and I realized we weren't doing to bad for a family of mutants and company.

*******

"I didn't mean to!" I buried my head in my hands as Iggy slammed the oven door shut with a disgusted look and turned it off. Through the screen inside, I could see the flames slowly dying out with their lack of oxygen. Not that it stopped the destruction. The flickering light left a path of demolition behind them, and I cringed as I realized that the nachos more resembled a burning landfill than cheese and chips now. Hehe, whoops.

"Do we still have to eat that?" Gazzy paled, bending down beside me and giving me a look with his blue eyes. "Please. Please say no."

I rolled my eyes, ruffling his hair. "I think if the judges deem it inedible they don't have to."

"Thank God." Angel breathed a sigh of relief as Nudge rubbed her back. Some might say they were overreacting. Some people haven't witnessed me in the kitchen. There was another click from the camera, and I turned to stick my tongue out at Fang. Another click. I narrowed my eyes, and he put the camera down. Wise boy.

"I vote we disqualify Max." Iggy announced as the flames died. "At risk to the judges. Say 'aye' if you agree."

There was a chorus of 'aye's, so grumbling lightheartedly, I took a place next to Fang. I mean, screw dinner, in Max World, we all live on appetizers. Still laughing quietly, I began to flip through the pictures Fang had taken. There were quite a few of the younger, one or two of mom, Iggy and Ella throwing flour at each other before mom had nearly thrown a fit. They looked breaded and ready to be fried. Then there was Gazzy, with a flour handprint on his face and whooping like a war Indian.

"You're a genuine stalker, you know that, right?" I asked Fang, who just smirked. He had an uncanny talent for photography; it seemed, capturing the best moments. Which often seemed to be the worst, but that's what blackmail's for. Total, cough, cough, Total. Flipping through the pictures, I didn't notice the fingers casually combing through one of my ponytails.

**Okay, everyone. So, serious question now. For future chapters, who do you want to see more point of views from? Fang? Jeb? Dr. M? Total? All possible, suggest in your review!**


	32. EM's

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

**Okay, thanks to everyone for responding to the POV question, and everything else, too! There were a lot of requests for Fang, which I will try to do to the best of my ability (no guarantees) plus one for Jeb and Angel. I may not do a whole chapter for the last two, but maybe I'll split thirty-three between them… And quite a few for Dr. M, too. **

**Maddy-I have not seen that, but I'll put that on my list of priorities. Hehe, poor Iggy…**

**Rainie16-thanks! Total is soo screwed…**

**Mo-there was a need for some minor fax :D**

**Emelya-yes, I think they must have been crazy to allow that one :D and I'll try to add more, faxness seems to be in high demand…**

**Kelsey Goode-that was supposed to be Fang, sorry if it wasn't clear, but glad you liked it otherwise!**

**Random5185-ugh. School. I'm so with you there. Thanks!**

**TaffyGirl-hehe, I liked that part, too ;)**

**Don't worry, Samz, we still have to get through Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, though I may conserve some. Pleentyy of videos **

**dancingqueen114-ha, a war, that'd be great! If I have one, I'll write that it was your amazing idea… hehe, already plotting…**

**raikimonducktape99-Jeb and Angel will be in there, thanks, though!**

**indescriable destruction-thankkk youu! By the way, love the word 'fabulous' haha, random insight…**

**Anyway, without further ado…**

Have I ever mentioned how slowly time ticks by? Like, even seconds. You have enough time to count out 'one Mississippi.' Or land a roundhouse kick. Or blink. Now try sitting through minutes as you wait for your much loved, but very loud family, to finish dinner up. I love my family, bird and non bird type, but every little noise seemed to be grating on my nerves like sandpaper on skin.

"And then Iggy…"

"Probably the best explosion _ever._"

"I so won, Ig! You used Betty Crocker-"

"Well you had used all the sugar!"

"Why don't you two make me a grocery list after you clean the kitchen." This, however, managed to amuse me slightly. Iggy and Ella had gotten into an all-out food fight when Ella used the last of the sugar for her cupcakes. It involved three showers, then Angel taking pity and picking eggshell out of Iggy's wings. Total nightmare doesn't even cover it.

_Tick. Tick. Tick. _

I heard a sigh next to me. Fang. He coughed once, then carefully slunk away as if invisible. Lucky. I almost wish he had made me sick so I could use it as an excuse to leave the kitchen. Dimly, I heard the door open and close, and I couldn't help the small smile.

"Max?" Mom's voice wasn't that different among the other noise. Actually, Iggy seemed to be fine, laughing with Ella, so maybe it was just me. I glanced up from my unused fork, twitching it back and forth between fingers. She flicked her eyes to the doorway, after Fang, and winked. This time, I sighed in relief, then stepped away before anyone else could notice our exchange. Plus in mom's kitchen, it's so small, that I can nearly cross from the table to the door in three steps, then six more and I was shooting out the door and into the air. Again, I was soo glad that mom's property was secluded and private, even for this part of Arizona. Just the feeling of the air whistling between my feathers was enough to make me break into an all-out grin.

I was about to pull a warp-speed, but then I heard the nearly indiscernible sound behind me, and mentally berated myself for going so fast, even if I wasn't warping. Even if he denied it, Fang _was _sick. Quickly, I ducked around in a neat little loop-the-loop, allowing Fang to catch up. Flying as close as one could with fourteen-foot wings, I ducked closer to him as we quickly gained altitude in the deepening night. A full moon shone on his wings and eyes, lighting them up with blueish-purple streaks. The stars seemed to outline his dark form as we rose higher and higher. I flicked a glance down, and mom's house was now a little yellow dot. The sounds were completely shut off, I wouldn't have been able to hear Gazzy and Iggy detonate the surrounding area.

Well, maybe that, but they respected mom enough to not blow up her house.

My point, however, is that all I could hear was Fang's quiet breathing and our wing strokes. I looked down again-paranoia, kicks in at the most irritating moments-but a rough hand cupped my chin, keeping my eyes glued on the dark ones, lit with something unnamable, only inches from mine. I sighed, not in relief, boredom, or irritation, but in pure pleasure. Fang's mouth quirked into a crooked smile, the one more familiar than my own. Carefully, almost hesitantly, Fang guided one of his hands to touch his face, and blinked slowly when I kept it there. He didn't tear his eyes from mine. I quirked an eyebrow, and his lip twitched. I didn't expect more of a response than that, and I'd just have to deal with him and his being closed off again, but he murmured something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen his lips move.

"You're not a dream." He admitted, almost sounding… guilty? I grinned, nodding.

"Neither are you. Now that we're on the same page…" I cleared my throat once, just so he would know I was now asking a question, not toying with him. "Why would you think so?"

"Well," he began quietly, spinning me closer for a moment, then away again so I could fly on my own. "Those times, I didn't, didn't… know what to say. So I kissed you, and you'd always run." He threw his head back to look upward as if angry. I began to murmur something, but he interrupted with, "you freaking _threw yourself _of a damned _cliff _to avoid me."

"To avoid myself, more, I think." I put a finger to his lips; silencing him and making him look back at me. "I was more confused than a turtle on the freeway. It took a while for you to help me change my mind."

Fang snorted. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, maybe a little more than a while. Just a little, though."

He grinned, leaning closer for a moment but then backing up a foot or so, his black wings working powerfully and coughed once.

I grinned, and one down stroke later, I was in his arms. "I don't care if you're sick." I laughed, pecking him on the lips (hehe, little Flock humor for you there) and allowing him to pull me closer, feeling completely vulnerable and breakable but somehow completely fabulous all the same.

"Trust me. Avian flu sucks." He murmured into my ear, our wings beating strangely so we could stay in each other's arms. Worth the effort, of course. He did kiss me one the cheek, though, and I could feel him smiling. Being vulnerable, just like me.

So eventually, even when we pulled away to fly with hands linked and watch the stars. Which by the way, are fabulous in Arizona. And I guessed other parts of the world if smog and pollution didn't cover them up…

Ugh. I was thinking depressing thoughts worthy of some of the music Fang listens to.

"What?" Fang asked, immediately catching the wrinkling of my brow and how… I dunno, hopeless, I guess, would work.

"I was thinking about saving the world. Pollution. The videos. How the hell are they supposed to help me? How can one person even save the world, anyway, when there are so many trying to destroy it? Why was I chosen, why couldn't someone who actually knows something about biology and global warming and all that crap do this, because they actually know what they're talking about when they go to Congress and speak…" Fang continued to let me rant for another moment or so until I finished with a long breath. I don't know how Nudge does it.

"Absolutely no idea." He sighed. "But I learned a lot of stuff from Brigid-" I stiffened. "Which, by the way," he continued coolly, "I only did to help you out."

I was still absorbing this in shock as he leaned in again and wrapped his hands around my waist, beginning to rock me back and forth. I didn't realize until they were there that I had put my own hands around his neck and that I was leaning my head against his shoulder.

And he was humming again, quietly, in my ear. I smiled. How he could hum with a sore throat I didn't know, but I wasn't complaining.

_"Slow down, this makes a perfect shade of dark blue, dark blue. Have you ever been alone in a crowded room? Well I'm here with you, with you…" _

My fingers carefully combed through his dark hair, unknotting tangles slowly as I listened to him. Granted, being me, things that are pleasant just don't stay that way for long. Sometimes not being me has it's appeal, but I don't really have that choice, do I? Anyway, at that moment, I pushed backwards from Fang as I railroad spike seemed to plunge it's way through my skull, then just as suddenly leave. But it was as if it had traced a complicated set of images right into my brain, because all I could were the bizarre lines. It took me a moment of staring to realize that there were actual patterns. Humans, some dead, some crippled and standing, but violence everywhere and smog hanging low over the stone buildings.

"Max?" Fang nearly shouted in concern. I barely heard it over the heavy beating of my heart.

"Gotta… draw." And in a moment, I was racing back to the house as fast as I could go. Blinded by the gory images in front of my eyes, I nearly broke down the front door as I dove in, scrambled for the large pad of paper mom kept in her office, and a pen. Around me, I could hear the dim voices of people calling my name and asking what the h-e-double toothpicks I was doing. Then mom whacking whoever it was.

My hand moved so quickly across the pages, I smudged the ink and had to redraw the first few pages. But it needed to be _large. _Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew that, and mentally divided the image up into twelve large rectangles. Finally, I fell backwards with the large pile of paper on my lap, and began to flip through them quietly.

"Max?" Angel asked quietly. "What was that? I saw it… in your mind."

Yes it was a weird sentence, but when you live with a telepath you get used to things like that.

"I dunno." I replied. "But it's important, the Voice sent it, I think. So I had to draw it, but I don't know what it means." Irritably, I got up and began to lay the sheets out in order so everyone could see the dark black lines showing ultimate destruction. As I stepped back, Ella muttered,

"Wow. That's pleasant."

"Would anyone mind explaining what exactly, is unpleasant?" Iggy asked coldly, but his face softened as Ella leaned up to whisper what she saw in his ear.

"I didn't know you could draw so well, Max." Nudge quipped, giggling. "But seriously, what is with all the death scenes?"

"It's the apocalypse."

I turned on my heel to look at Fang, whose dark eyes were examining the papers carefully.

"Whaat?"

"You heard me." He said softly. "The apocalypse. Look." He strode forward, carefully stepping around them and pointing to a certain few spots. "Mankind. Dead and dying. The black stuff. Poisonous fumes. All the water dried up. Then, there, birds circling overhead. Only they can reach the untainted air."

"But it could just be an illustration." I said faintly, eyes wide. "The Voice was probably giving me different views on the end of the world, what I have to save it from. I bet next it will show everything covered in ice or something. Like Inuits and stuff."

"We're the birds." Fang continued slowly. "That's why you were given wings… someone knew about this. And created you to stop it, whoever it was noticed that the birds are the only living things aside the mutated humans crawling in the mud."

"But we're just mutated humans!" I protested weakly, beginning to shiver as I realized all the logic behind Fang's words. "We could be just like those ones."

"I think Fang's right, Max." Angel said quietly, gripping her brother's hand till her knuckles turned white.

"It looks like an ancient civilization illustration." Ella pointed out suddenly. "You notice how all the people are dressed very differently? And the buildings were built a long time ago…"

"But…" I looked in panic from Ella's face, to mom's, then Iggy's and Fang's. "I don't… how the _hell _am I supposed to do something about this? And when? There are no numbers or anything! It could be a hundred years from now, or tomorrow! I, but, and what do the videos have anything to do with it? Jeb _said _they would help, but they haven't! I don't-"

"Isn't there always a plan, though, Max?" Gazzy whimpered, his blue eyes wide. I looked up at him, tearing my eyes away from the drawings for a second.

"Of course there is, Gaz." I lied immediately, trying to put on my strong face. "This is just… another hurdle to jump over. But there is a plan."

I silently begged Iggy not to mutter darkly saying something like, "yeah, plan Z." Then he looked in my direction and nodded, a slight smile. Angel must have transferred my thought. I nodded once, forgetting he wouldn't see it, so I nudged his foot (easy in the tight room) and Fang began to pile up the papers.

"Maybe, Max," mom said, trying to sound bright and helpful. I smiled at her, even if it was more a grimace. "We could think it over chocolate chip cookies, and call Jeb. He might know."

"Yes to the first plan." I sighed heavily. "But then he'd probably give me some fortune cookie crap like, 'look to your resources, Max.' Then I'll ask what the resources are, and he'll say, 'you are the Maximum, Max. Now be it, and don't forget, save the world.'" I rolled my eyes and pushed my way out through the door, trying to brush off the panic that had seized over me.

"Maybe we could bring him here and Angel could read his mind!" Nudge suggested brightly.

"I can't read his." Angel told her forlornly. "Remember?"

Even if it's something about controlling and/or reading someone's mind, it makes me angry every time I see Angel's put out face, as if she's been crushed by a steam roller. Granted, I didn't think I'd be so angry if she controlled Jeb's mind and made him go jump off a cliff, but then, that's me, and mom would probably be angry.

"Well," mom clapped her hands together, looking at the hall clock. "It's almost ten, Nudge, Gaz, and Angel, one cookie, then bed." I mentally thanked her, but there was a chorus of groans until I enforced it with a little glare at the three youngest, who grumbled a bit more, but grabbed a cookie, hugged me, then trooped upstairs. I could already see their feet dragging.

"Wait-" Mom suddenly froze by the stove, pulling out the fresh batch of cookies. The remainder of the Flock and I froze, all to used to this kind of stuff, but then relaxed again as she said, "Ella…"

"Mmh?" She replied around a glass of water.

"Did you have school today?"

Ella choked on the water, then gulped, her eyes streaming. "Uhh, I think so."

"You forgot?"

Ella nodded, seeming to be waiting for the whip to come down. This, however, is just one of the reasons mom is so cool.

"Well, so did I. But you're going tomorrow, and the day after that, and you need to make sure you didn't miss any homework. Did you have any over vacation?"

Relieved, but glaring at Fang, Iggy, and I who were laughing quietly, Ella shrugged.

"Uh, maybe? I have study hall first period tomorrow, so if I do," she amended quickly with mom's glare. "I can finish it then. I think I just have to study for exams, and I'm pretty caught up on everything."

Mom sighed, a small smile flitting across her face as she pulled more cookies out and began to scoop them off the pan.

"What are your classes tomorrow?" Iggy asked, taking a bite of cookie.

"Study hall, algebra, AL, French, ugh, I hate having two languages in a row." Ella sighed irritably and hit her head on the table multiple times. "Mom? Can I play hooky? My brain is going to fry. And then bake as I fall asleep in civics, then burn when I finally get to English." She groaned again. I rubbed her back sympathetically. "Then I have some of those, and the classes I didn't have, the next day. God this is going to _suck._"

"Then why don't you go to bed so your brain doesn't burn?" Mom suggested. "I believe you said it has baked and fried before. And don't you have lacrosse practice tomorrow?"

"Oh!" Ella immediately brightened, though it was only somewhat. "Yeah. I do. My stick and stuff are still in the front hall closet, right?"

"Unless you moved them."

"'K." Ella pulled herself up off the chair. "I'll bring my rabbit salad for lunch then so Gazzy can't eat it. You guys will still be here tomorrow, right?" She turned suddenly, to look wide-eyed at Iggy, Fang, and I. Grinning, I nodded. However, it was laced with worry. We had been here so long, what if we were tracked? _But, _I justified it to myself. _I need a TV to watch the videos, and I have to save the world from a really sucky apocalypse._

"Wait!" Ella turned around again just as she reached the hall and ignored mom rolling her eyes. "Max, cool idea, actually. I know, surprise, right? Anyway, since that drawing of yours sort of reminds me of the stuff we look at in AL, want me to bring it and ask my teacher what she thinks?"

I hesitated. What if her teacher was a whitecoat in disguise trying to kidnap her? But then I told myself how stupid that sounded and nodded gratefully. Maybe then I'd finally get some answers. Ella grinned, grabbed the papers off the table, and hurried out the door.

I yawned loudly, but kept my eyes wide open. I knew I would never be able to sleep. Yes, the others had seen what I had drawn, but only I had the image etched in my brain like a horror film playing over and over again. Maybe I could down a super-size pack on Zyrtec. That should knock me out for a good few hours.

"Mom?" I asked sleepily. "Can I have some coffee?"

Mom turned around from something on the counter, a book, maybe? With a small smile, shaking her head. Iggy and Fang both exhaled in relief.

"Thank you." Iggy sounded like he was speaking to a saint. "Savior!"

Mom rolled her eyes and swatted him lightly with her rolled up magazine. "Upstairs, the three of you. You're dead on your feet!"

"But-"

"I'll get you something, Max." Mom said warmly, clearly understanding my reluctance.

"Is it valium?" I asked warily. Fang snorted, and mom tried to hold back laughter.

"I don't want to know." Iggy sighed. "I know it. By the way, valium won't help you sleep."

"Okay, Fang," I growled at him irritably. "That's enough."

He quieted, but I could still see the humor in his eyes. Ignoring him and mom, I slid off my chair and walked out the kitchen door, too tired to move any faster. I trudged up the stairs, into the bathroom, changed, then collapsed into bed with my hands on my forehead.

_Why did it have to be so hard? _I groaned to myself. The apocalypse (if that's what it really was) was much worse than even I had imagined, but even if I had imagined it, how the hell was I supposed to stop it?

"Max?" I opened my eyes, and mom was leaning over me with her brow creased. I was surprised I hadn't heard her come in, but I guess I had been too preoccupied with my thoughts. "Are you getting sick, too?"

I shook my head, but knowing my tendency to ignore sickness, mom put her hand to my forehead. Somewhat satisfied, she leaned away, but pushed a glass at me.

"This is something that doctors use for patients who have undergone extreme shock, for instance, witnesses to violent crimes," she explained. I sniffed the glass-it smelled like orange juice. "It's just a pill that I put in orange juice, and allows you a dreamless sleep."

"Yeah," I muttered darkly. "If I get to sleep."

She smiled sadly, said, "drink up." Kissed my forehead, tucked me in and left the room. I saw her nod to Fang on the way out, and then he slipped in and folded down on his bed. I turned on my side so I could look at him before I went to sleep, and saw he was doing the same. Quickly, I sucked the drink down through the straw, and suddenly realized I was exhausted. Fang smiled slightly, as if knowing what I was thinking.

"Night." He whispered. I blinked sleepily, nodded, and closed my eyes.

*******

"You're walking?" I asked, looking up at Ella over my cereal. She nodded, rubbing at her eyes. "Can I come?" Again, she nodded, though now it was more automatic.

"How are you so… awake?" Ella groaned to me. "And why are you up so early?"

I ignored the last part. The drug mom had given me had worn off by about one in the morning, and Fang had kept waking up with me to rub my shoulders and do it all over again when I fell asleep and woke up, whimpering, again. Finally, at about five, I decided to spare him and snuck downstairs. When Ella had gotten up, I'd kept her company as she packed her lunch, stuffed books in her backpack, drank two cups of caffeinated tea and had breakfast.

"My sleep schedule is permanently screwed up." I rolled my eyes. "I'm used to it."

"Lucky you."

"I know, right? How long does it take to walk?"

"Half an hour if I'm really tired," Ella took another bite. "Twenty if I've had three cups of coffee, but I have to get there early because I just remembered I have to have a rough draft of a paper due tomorrow and I haven't even started. After school I won't have time, so I'm gonna try to get it done when we get there in the library."

"Nice." I would have laughed, but it was six-thirty in the morning. "Did you really forget, or just forget to mention it to mom?"

"Both. I remembered as soon as I got into bed last night."

"When do you wanna leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." Ella banged her head on the table, once, twice, three times before I held her back.

"C'mon, grab your lacrosse stick." I pulled her up off the bench, towing her toward the front door as she grabbed her backpack from the table. I reached into the front hall closet, snatched her bag and silver stick, and flung it over my shoulder in the traditional hobo style.

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered as we began to head down the driveway. "Shouldn't you be telling the rest of the Flock where you are?"

I shrugged, feeling a brief twang of worry. But I'd only be away about half an hour, then I could run or fly back within ten minutes, plus the school wasn't far and Angel would be able to read my mind and Fang would know…

"It's fine." I decided on. Ella probably wouldn't want to hear my over-concerned leader rant.

"So," I asked her conversationally. "Is Shawn Akers still the cutest boy in class?"

She snorted. "Oh, I'm over that loser. Honestly, yes he's quite attractive, but he was such a jerk to Celine, called her a whore and everything…ugh, what a bastard."

"Why is it that people always feel the need to call tall, chesty, blondes whores?" I asked her wearily. "Happens on TV all the time."

"Or girls that are friends with guys," she ticked off on her fingers. "Or girls who have dated more than one guy, pretty much anyone with a so-called 'flaw.'"

"The prejudices of society." I rolled my eyes, kicking a pebble so that it hit a mailbox. I winced, but Ella laughed.

"It's okay, they're not nice people anyway."

"Good, then." I was sick and tired of obnoxious people. Calling Celine a whore. Hitting Sierra outside Bertucci's. All the cases on TV, not to mention the whitecoats and world disasters. Seriously. What is up with people always trying to hurt and abuse other people? Call me a tree-hugging hippie with a peace necklace, but maybe that's what I am (minus the necklace) because no one else seems to care what happens to the world. Just call me Max the Treehugger.

Okay, maybe not literally, but it has a better ring than Max the Terrorist and probably won't make airport officials nervous.

"Did Fang give your iPod back yet?" I asked, changing the subject. Whenever he came, he pretty much hoarded it, uploading music from his computer onto it and whatever. Ella probably had more music than a store thanks to him.

She cracked a smile, despite the early morning. "Nah, but it's fine. I can always borrow one of Mei's, her mom gave her an old one, so she lends me her old shuffle. But more importantly, how long have you two been together?" I grimaced, even though Ella laughed. "I haven't had time to talk to you in ages! You'll have to catch me up on everything!"

"Since right before we rescued mom."

She looked unsatisfied at my lack of tone or explanation and shot me a glare. I sighed.

"Fine. Well, Angel had escaped the sub again and was swimming outside at pressures that would kill humans. Of course she can breathe underwater, but then these things came, called 'Krelp' and I thought they would kill her, so I hurried to the hatch to go after her-"

"That deep?" Ella paled. I nodded.

"And all the adults tried to stop me."

"Go on." She grinned. "I know something's coming."

"You're impossible, you know that, right?" But I couldn't help laughing. She was right, we hadn't spent quality time together in a long while and it was nice and was the only thing that made me continue. "Well, I made all the adults leave me alone, said I was going whether they allowed it or not. Then that left Fang standing in the safety hatch," Ella giggled. I shot her a look. "And…" I blushed.

"Details!"

I shook my head, unable to continue.

"Details and I'll tell you about Iggy!"

_Whaat? _She had done it; I was completely and utterly overcome with curiosity. Sure, I had known they were close, good friends and all, but did she really think of him that way? My jaw dropped open, and I weighed her response to my story against whatever she might have to offer.

"AndhesaidhehadmybacknomatterwhatandsteppedtothesidesoIcouldgoafterAngel,butthenIsortathrewmyselfathimandwe…."

"What was that?" Ella laughed, cupping a hand to her ear. "It needs to be audible and make sense!" Even though she totally had heard.

"He said he had my back. No matter what." I growled. "Then stepped to the side so I could go after Angel, but then I…kissed him. In front of everybody. Then I went to rescue Angel, who didn't really need rescuing, but we rescued mom."

Oh God. She squealed in delight, clapping her hands together then wrapping me in an enormous hug.

"I'm so glad you're finally together! Iggy told me and everything, but it's not the same as having it from the source, and you were totally meant to be! Soulmates, seriously. It's not everyone who can look at each other and know what they're thinking!"

I nodded, blushing furiously.

"But what about you and Iggy?" I prodded, but she swatted my shoulder.

"That was just to get you to talk. There is nothing between Iggy and I."

I rolled my eyes, but decided on, "oh, 'Iggy and I,' that's formal."

"No, it's proper English." She teased.

"Ooh, proper English." I laughed. "I'm unfamiliar with that term."

"You bet you are. Did you just get together then, or what?"

I sighed heavily. We were back on the 'Fax' subject. Whoopee. Note extreme sarcasm.

"He kissed me a few times. I ran-flew away, confused, but then the night mom got kidnapped…" I cleared my throat, feeling uncomfortable under her stare. "I, uh, didn't."

"That's so great, Max. I'm happy for you. And glad you weren't on Valium when it happened."

We both laughed at that, but as we neared the school, I began to tense up and kept glancing worriedly over my shoulder. Ella kept chatting casually, but eventually caught on and met my eyes.

"I dunno," I responded quietly to her non-vocal question. "I just have this feeling… something's not right."

Ella immediately turned and got a 360 view of our surrounding area. We were in a slightly less populated area, a back road to the school.

"Ella," I asked. "How often do you walk to school?"

"Almost everyday." She muttered. "Why?"

These kind of questions were routine for me, though it was most often to myself I was directing them. "And would anyone be trying to catch you alone? At any point in time?"

She hesitated, looking like a three-year-old getting caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. "Remember the guys who you originally fought off?" She asked quietly. I stiffened, but nodded. The ones who had turned my wing into a piñata. "Well, I told a teacher that they beat up another kid, but I told the teacher to keep the confidant confidential."

"Is there any way they could have found out?" I demanded.

Ella swore. I took that as a yes. "Jose. He threatened the student council members until he found out last time, ugh, I should have known! I'm an idiot-" I clamped my hand over her mouth as I heard the quiet purr of an engine. Quickly, I pulled Ella to the side of the road, planning on pushing her into the bushes until it passed, but it was upon us just as we reached the sidewalk.

It was sleek, shiny, black and the windows were tinted. I pushed Ella behind me and took a fighting stance, I had seen too many cars resembling that one, though none with an Arizona license plate.

"His older brother," Ella hissed in my ear. "Inheritated a ton of money when parents died mysteriously and can drive. Back up slowly." I did as she asked, pushing her with me until we were as far from the car as the brick wall would allow. That was when the passenger side door opened, and out stepped a sadly familiar teen. He was gross. Smelled terrible, had pimples all over his oily face, but I never forget a face. The kid who had shot me. Take my word for it, I do not take being shot well. Other members of the gang began to pull themselves out of the other seats, and though I was sure I could take them, I didn't want to move until I was sure that they didn't have guns. The chances of which were slim. It didn't seem like Jose had a sort of brother who would restrict such things.

"Martinez," another kid, Dwayne, I think, grunted, sounding like a dying pig. "I dunno who you're with, chick, but shouldn' you know not to drag people into things that they shouldn' mess wit'?"

"Oh, like Derek?" She snarled, trying to move out from behind me. I didn't let her. "So was he just a person who got dragged into something he shouldn't have messed with?"

"He reported Jake." Jose spat something green on the ground and ground it beneath his combat boot-clad foot.

"And Jake deserved it!" Ella continued bravely. "Pushing preschoolers out bus windows isn't going to be ignored!"

_Pushing preschoolers out bus windows? _What kind of sick jerks were we dealing with?

"Jus' like the preschoolers and Derek, they had somethin' comin' to 'em." Another boy announced in his gravelly voice. "So do you. Yeh get how this ting works? You tell, we get you."

"Ooh, 'cause that's such a threat." I snarled. "You six. I've never seen anyone scarier!"

"Who're you?" The first kid, Joes growled. "We'll get you, once we're done with Ella. Or you could run off now."

"I'd say the same to you." I replied coldly. "Don't you remember me? I remember you." Even if he hadn't remembered me, it was a creepy thing to say to someone, but a flare of recognition passed through his eyes. He gulped. "I'd say that I'm glad your arm is better." I raised my eyebrows. "But I'm not supposed to lie."

"Who are you?" He growled, but he was glancing around nervously. "Some sorta secret coppers?"

"Something like that." I mean, saving the world, isn't that what cops do on a smaller scale? They save victims and stuff. I saw his hand twitch toward a pocket, not quite as baggy as the others on his holey cargo pants. I narrowed my eyes. "Shooting a cop is a federal crime, you know." I told him in all seriousness. "You wouldn't just be facing juvie, kid."

"You're not much more than a kid, either!" Dwayne barked at me. "I 'member when we first saw you, you weren' more 'n skin 'n bones!"

"And yet I still beat the crap outta you." I rolled my eyes. "Haven't you heard of teen cops? Drug busters and stuff? You guys are duller than you look."

"Jose, man." One of the smaller guys shifted. "Let's blow this joint. We can't kill a cop."

"We can hurt one." Dwayne cracked his knuckles.

"Remember how well that went last time?" I snarled. "I wouldn't try it."

Jose and Dwayne, seeming to be the leaders of the little gang, seemed to be debating over what to do. Dwayne picked his nose. Finally, Jose pulled open the car door again and glared at me.

"You haven't seen the last of us, _cop._" He spat. "Watch your back, you too, Martinez."

"Ooh, scary." I taunted as they piled back in the car. "Really. I'm quaking in my Nikes." Then I flipped him off as the driver sped away. Ella and I waited a moment longer before I turned her around and began to pull her toward home.

"Max," she protested. "School's the other way-"

"You're not going." I snarled. "C'mon. They'll be waiting for you, I promise you that."

"But-"

"Ella, trust me."

She quieted down, but I saw a look of steely determination come over her eyes. "It would be giving in to them."

"Are you really so ready to go back to school?" I tugged on her again. She held her ground.

"Well," she hesitated. "No. But they'll think they have power over me. They'll-"

"Ella," I put my hands on her shoulders, trying to secure myself so I didn't go bolting off after the car to find the humans that were digging their own grave as they got farther and farther away. "Please. I know what you're feeling. Surely you must know that, watching those videos of me at the School, but we'll tell mom. She'll arrange something, she'll-"

"Be in work early because of a dog with bloat. It's deadly, you know." Ella said stiffly. "I'm fine. Walk me to the office if you want, then if you want, you can come back later and walk me to lacrosse practice, where you can watch me on the bleachers, if you're going to be that overprotective-"

"The same sort of overprotective-ness that has saved the Flock's lives multiple times!"

Ella sighed heavily, her brown eyes seemed understanding but determined. "And that's good, you're a great leader, Max, but this is just a gang. Yes they have a hand rifle or two, one that shot you, I know, but we can handle it. You seemed to scare them quite a lot with the cop story, but," she looked down, scuffing her feet on the pavement. "You don't get it. If I don't go to school, it'd be giving in to those jackholes, they'd think they have leverage over me. I-"

"Can't let that happen." I muttered. "I know, I just…" I sighed, turning on my heel and beginning to pace for a few steps. I didn't want anyone with a gun near my family, what with the way things had turned out in the past, but I could relate with what Ella was saying, and I couldn't hold her against her will…

"Fine." I growled. "I'll walk you to the office. You keep your cell with you at all times, then at exactly three-oh-clock, I will meet you again at the office and walk you to the playing fields where I will watch your lacrosse practice and-"

"Belle's mom is driving me home." Ella interrupted with a small smile. "But I'm sure she won't mind you coming along, too. Celine and Mei will be there, too. Thanks, Max. This sounds crazy, but I'm glad you're letting me go to school!"

"Yeah," I laughed darkly, trying to cover up my unease. "C'mon, though. I don't want them to come back." She nodded, and together, at a swift jog, we hurried down the street, around another corner, and into the parking lot. Ignoring the looks I received from the teachers, I waved, and hurried back out of the school building. Yes, it would seem unusual for me to be seen running in my pajamas out in the early morning, but at the moment I didn't really care about stuff like that, more just that I wanted to get home _now. _

**Jeb Batchelder Point of View**

Jeb looked casually over his shoulder, though internally, his heart was racing. Why were they here? It couldn't be a coincidence. Billings wasn't _that _big a city, and he knew of no other members that would reside there. He would know…

Jeb gulped as one of the tall men with perfect complexion and clean-shaven faces cut his way through the traffic, apologizing profusely to an irritated minivan driver. The woman's glare quickly softened, but Jeb wasn't reassured. That was what the Elite Men (or EM) had been trained and bred for, and the cool, composed look only made him feel even hotter under his jacket. Quickly, he began to review the streets and alleys of Billings and surrounding areas. Airports, car dealerships, and then of course his apartment. But he couldn't bring the EM's there… it wouldn't be safe. He'd rather they catch himself than the two living in relative obliviousness to what was going on now. Jeb considered sending a quick text to Molly, but they could very well have been tracking his email for weeks up until then.

A darker skinned EM joined the first one, casually making their way down the sidewalk toward Jeb. Again, he resisted the urge to wipe his brow.

Three EM's, and two more just ahead.

Jeb felt like bawling.


	33. That's What Iggy's For!

**Chapter Thirty-Three**

**Hey guys! Sorry for not updating sooner… I sorta had writers block then recently I've been really busy. I started a new school last year and so I haven't seen on of my best friends in a while, and I just spent a while with her, so I'm in a happy mood. And all my new school friends are meeting a few of my old school ones this Friday, which I'm happy about… I'm generally not such a social person so it's gonna be weird, since in the summer I generally just hole away and do my own thing unless one of my friend's calls me. **

**Anyway. I'll update soon after this chapter, I have the next one all planned out, but onward to reviewers…**

**katiegirl10119-thanks! I will…**

**Queen of True Love-hehe, you'll see *suspense***

**Maddy-yes! I love that song. I hope you don't mind, I listened to it after reading your story, but I also like his song The Mixed Tape… But huge thanks, anyway.**

**Winged-Vampyre-Gallagher-Girl-thanks!**

**indescribable destruction-thanks, and I did. Yes. Max is not very pleased with Jose right now :D**

**LovelyNBlue-glad you liked it**

**Rainie16-well, I guess they're sorta similar to the Mafia... But thanks!**

**Mo-I haven't planned on them being connected, but Molly will come into play later. HEY, EVERYONE! If you're confused about Jeb's Molly, you'll find out who she is eventually. **

**Anyway. Thanks everyone, and here we go, chapter thirty-three…**

I slammed the door shut behind me, feeling ready to tear it off the hinges and hurl it through a window. Mom, however, would not be very happy about that.

"Max! Oh my God, I was getting worried, but when I checked in on Fang, he was fine, so I assumed you had left on your own free will, and maybe walk Ella to school." Yes, when someone isn't in there bed, kidnapping is a legit concern in my life. Depressing, I know, but true.

"Hey, Nudge." I growled. "Yeah. Ella."

"You okay?" She chirped, jumping on my lap as I collapsed on the coach. "You look really pissed, err, I mean, ticked off. What happened?"

I debated for a moment. I could lie, tone it down, just that I was angry at some kids at Ella's school, but recently I've been trying to treat Nudge like an older kid. She understood consequences now, wasn't as crazy as she had been when Angel had first been kidnapped. I sighed.

"I was walking Ella to school, and we had a run in with the gang from before. I made them leave, but Ella insisted upon going to school."

"The ones who shot you?"

"Yeah, those losers-"

"Who shot Max?" I glanced up at the balcony leaning over the living room, where Iggy was rubbing his eyes wearily. "I thought we were safe. Please tell me it was a figure of speech."

"I saw the guys who shot me before." I explained to him, not sounding half as calm as I would have wished. "The gang. They were going to beat up Ella, but I had them leave."

Iggy stiffened, immediately wide awake as he snarled, "what? Those fricken bastards? Where's Ella? Damn, did she insist on going to school? Shit. She's an idiot. They'll wait for her, I know it, they'll wait for her at lacrosse later-"

"Iggy," I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Please watch the language, but I feel just the same way. I said I was meeting her at the front office at three sharp, then walking to lacrosse practice with her and escorting her home. In the meantime she probably has the smarts to stay with her friends…"

"I'm coming with you." Iggy announced abruptly, stiffly hurrying down the stairs. "And if we see, theoretically, those _cretins, _they'll regret it."

"Yes." I agreed coldly. "I'm so with you."

"Guys," Nudge said hesitantly, interrupting a muttering Iggy. "You won't… kill them, will you?"

Iggy snorted, not reassuring Nudge at all. Despite all my anger, I gathered her in my arms, telling her that of course we wouldn't kill anyone. It's sort of against my policy, unless necessary.

"Why, though?" I asked her. "You know I don't like killing people."

"Fang had a sort of negative hit the other day, I think you were with your mom or something, Max. This person asked why they were so untrustworthy and that he was a bitter maniac or something for not confiding in his bloggers and ruining stuff by leading dangerous things to innocent people. They went on and on, but then a ton of other bloggers posted a ton of stuff against this kid, and I think a monitor banned the person from Fang's blog, but he was _soo _angry, and I just wanna prove that the jack-uh, idiot, is wrong."

_"WHAAT?" _Iggy exploded, whipping around to stalk toward Nudge as if it was her fault. My eyes widened in disbelief, so much it took me a while to respond in much the same way as Ig.

"What fucken' _bastards!_"

And seeing how I didn't hit him multiple times for his language just proves how shocked I was.

"Iggy," a low voice came from upstairs, and Fang, looking like a shadow, appeared on the balcony, flanked by Angel and Gazzy. "You better have a good reason for waking me up-"

"Yeah, I do!" Iggy snarled up at him. "Like why you didn't tell us about that blogger who was against us!" Fang's eyes suddenly lit in pure hatred, it didn't take any more description for him to know who Iggy was talking about.

"Didn't want to worry you." He spat back. "I took care of the, as you so put it, fucking bastards."

By now I had gotten over myself, jumped to my feet and screamed, _"LANGUAGE! DOES IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU TWO IDIOTS THAT THERE ARE SEVEN AND EIGHT YEAR OLDS IN THIS HOUSE?" _Then I fell back onto the couch, but slammed by head on the windowsill, and jumped up again, beginning to pace in frustration. I was so ready to get back in bed and just start this day _all over. _

"Max." Angel called down quietly. "Calm down. We'll meet Ella, the kid was blocked from Fang's blog, and Nudge, Gazzy, and I won't repeat what Iggy and Fang just said, okay?"

"Yeah, but who was this kid?" I asked to the world. "What does he have against us? He's what, the first person who has ever been against us after reading the blog?"

Fang nodded once. "I researched it, too. Username, it wasn't very effective, because he was a so-called 'guest.' Only came up with about two million results. What happened to Ella?"

I explained in a rush, ignoring how he narrowed his eyes in the slightest. He wasn't angry, he was pissed. Just like me, and apparently the rest of the world. Gazzy and Angel also seemed snarly, and I was debating on whether to bring them with me to encounter the gang so an eight and seven year old could beat them up. Granted, if they had guns, I didn't want my whole Flock to be in crossfire.

"Okay," I had to work hard from sounding like I was talking to Erasers. "This afternoon. Iggy will come with me to pick up Ella, watch her lacrosse practice, then bring her home-no, Fang. You're manning the fort." I caught his expression and quickly put my foot down. With the way the day was going we would be attacked by the latest hell life could throw at us when Iggy and I left, and I didn't want Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy alone for that. "If luck holds, we'll be back around five. Then Ella will probably have that torture we call homework, so not too loud until she's done, maybe around six when hopefully Iggy will have made dinner and we can discuss whatever Ella found out today in AL class," Angel would explain to Gaz and Nudge what that meant, and if she didn't, they'd find out. "From now to three and after dinner, we can do whatever. Any suggestions?"

Explaining a long plan always calmed them down, giving a schedule with specific times, and God knows we had to calm down then.

"I want to help you save the world, Max." Gazzy jumped over the banister and ran over to me, sitting on my lap. "Let's watch one of the School videos before Ella gets home, then later we can do something fun. Tie-dye, maybe?"

"Yeah!" Nudge chirped. "I like that idea. Or karaoke. Or truth-or-dare. When I went to a sleepover in Virginia we played that!"

Personally, I was going with Gazzy's suggestion. I'm not a karaoke/TOD person.

"Well," I clapped my hands together. "What movie are we on now? We started the real home video, then I think we were partway through the one with Stripes…"

"Yes." Iggy confirmed. "Shall we finish it?"

"Yes." I mimicked his tone. "We shall. Art we ready to shall?"

"'Ready to shall?'" Fang raised his eyebrows in the classic WTF expression.

"Well, if we 'shall' then it sounds like a verb." I explained. "So, technically, we can shall, right?"

Fang just met my eyes, all his disbelief and amusement passed in that one gesture before he turned away to look at the younger kids.

"C'mon, guys." He said. "We're shalling, according to Max."

"Angel, find the video." Iggy instructed. "I'll get cereal and all that crap for everyone. Do we want mixing bowl sizes?"

"YES!" Gazzy and Angel cheered at the same time. What can I say? We need a lot of calories, and a mixing bowl full of cereal works. Granted, that means the six of us polish off almost an entire box for ourselves, but that's why we didn't have cereal very often.

"Me and Fang will split one." I called to Iggy in the kitchen, already settling on the couch between Fang and Gazzy. "Since I already ate a human portion and he's sick."

"I here ya' chirpin', big bird." He called back. "You can start it."

Nudge (silently! We're making progress!) turned the tape on, so after a bit of fast-forwarding, we arrived just after Stripes and the rest of us had recovered. There was a little date in the corner of the screen, and remembering the last one, I realized that this one was taken at a later date. The random jumbling of videos confused me, but I thought that maybe Jeb had conserved the many ones into not so many but more useful kind, so I wasn't complaining.

Iggy and I weren't in the room, but Stripes and Fang were both there, sitting into the cages next to each other, but facing opposite directions. You could see one side of both of their faces, and Fang and Stripes seemed equally worried and tense. Not to mention annoyed. They both hid it relatively well, except Stripes' tail was whipping back and forth and would occasionally slip between the bars and hit Fang in the back. He would jump, then wait a moment before jabbing Stripes with a wing. This went on for a few moments, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy where even laughing, but then Stripes spun around and grabbed at Fang's wing with clawed fingers. He pulled it out of the way just in time, but she got one dark feather.

"Stop!" She snarled. "As if I'm not anxious enough!"

Fang didn't say a word, but twitched toward her flicking tail. Realizing what he meant, Stripes hissed irritably and turned around again.

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is that you refuse to talk? I've heard you say one word in near a month, and that was to Max. Would it kill you to do anything besides sit there all day? We should be doing something productive! Where are Max and Iggy?" This was all in one fast breath, and even from the recorded version it was hard to catch every word. "They were taken hours ago! I hate the whitecoats, without them you might actually say something once in a while." She waited, then screamed in frustration. "Or at least shrug! Nod your head! I'm not Max, you know, I don't know what you're thinking! Max and Iggy don't have a problem talking, on the contrary, Max tells all those stories about the Outside that she hears from her whitecoat and I know even you like those. Please, Fang, just nod. Tell me you like those. I can't stand it if they don't come back and I'm stuck with you!"

Fang waited a moment, still staring blankly just to the right of the camera, and Stripes looked almost ready to cry in frustration, but then he jerked his head down once.

"Good, you understand English! I thought those stupid whitecoats had screwed you up too much… Ugh. I hate this place. Hate the whitecoats. Hate my spots. I hate a lot of stuff right now, and where are Max and Iggy? God, this is so _frustrating!_" Now she was stalking back and forth in her cage on hands and knees, talking so fast I missed a few words. "Yeah, I know, if you knew you'd say, but it's rhetorical, okay? Doesn't anyone listen to us? Doesn't anyone know about us?"

Fang shrugged.

"Does anyone _care?_ They're always calling us 'mutants,' and if there's an opposite of 'mutant' it must be the thing to be! It must be good to not be a mutant. Non-mutants don't have wings or gills or spots or tails… it must be nice to be a non-mutant. What?" Fang had shook his head fiercely. "You wouldn't want to be a non-mutant? Why? But of course you're not going to answer… oh. Because the whitecoats are non-mutants." Stripes suddenly sighed in defeat. "Then I agree with you. Surprising, I know. But I don't wanna be a whitecoat. Or an adult. Adults are mean."

Fang nodded, ruffling his wings softly.

"They took Max and Iggy." Stripes continued angrily. "Adults are bad. They killed the other mutants. They're destroying us mutants, but we've gotta do something about it. I don't know what… maybe next time they let us out, we can attack them and escape! We'll run down the hall and go to the Outside! We will, Fang, and I'll even drag you along with me if I have to."

Fang rolled his eyes, the equivalent of 'or I'll drag you, but whatever.' I glanced at him; I had never known they'd had this little talk. But why was it on the tape? So far it had been mostly examples of the whitecoats hurting us, building up my immunity to arsenic, which as far as I know, I'm still fine with having injected into my veins.

"Max!"

"What? Oh, hi, Ig." From his tone, he had said my name multiple times.

"Hi." He said irritably, shoving a bowl of cereal at me. "What was that all about? Please tell me you and Fang weren't making out-"

I hit him, then Fang kicked him back so he stepped on Nudge, who helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, sure, I get you two breakfast, your second, Maximum-"

"'What about second breakfast?'" I giggled, interrupting him, but making both he and Fang crack smiles. It was one of our favorite quotes from _Lord of the Rings_, where Pippin the hobbit was still adjusting to the life of someone on the run.

"What were you thinking about, Max?" Gazzy nestled closer to me. "You got this sort of pinched look on your face."

"I feel like there's something I should be noticing," I growled, watching the screen as it clicked and brought it to another scene with two Erasers wheeling an unconscious Iggy and I back into the room. "But I can't put my wing on it…"

"Stupid mutant kids." One Eraser laughed harshly. "They should let the big boys take care of it." Then they lifted our limp forms by our necks and shoved us into cages. Fang lunged at the one that traced a claw down my leg, drawing blood, then they both began to poke Fang through the bars of his cage, still cackling. Stripes shot one hand out, raking her claws across a paw, then an Eraser turned on her, but she whipped her tail around and hit it in the face. When it cried out, she snatched at his tongue and held it between her claws, while Fang pushed his cage onto the other's foot.

"Cat got your tongue?" She snarled into the Eraser's ear. "Looks like it."

Fang spat in the other Eraser's eye, making it howl and kick his cage away as he began to verbally abuse the bird child.

"Useless mutant!" It snarled. "Don't you know that you don't matter yet? You're all just mess-ups! Experiments! You mean nothing," I grabbed Fang's hand as I sensed him tense up. This continued for a few moments, in which Nudge began to tear up and Angel buried her head into Nudge's lap. Iggy stood stiffly by the doorway, his blind eyes focused on something far away. Finally, they left, the one with the bleeding tongue turning once to yell,

"Pathetic failures. The grown-ups always win."

"_YOU JUST WAIT!" _Fang shrieked after them. _"WE'LL SHOW YOU!" _

Stripes had frozen, mid-lick at the base of her tail. Then she cleared her throat. "You tell 'em, bird boy."

"Were you two fighting?" Iggy croaked groggily, attempting to sit up in his cage. Aside from looking fatigued, anorexic, ashen-faced and malnourished (a normal for experiments at the School) he looked just shaken. Probably shock tests or something. I was still out for the count.

"With Erasers." Stripes answered. "But more importantly, where have you been?"

"Tests." Iggy coughed. "On my hearing, and Max's arsenic and mercury levels again. I think she's almost immune to arsenic, but the mercury is wearing her down. Wonder why." He finished sarcastically, looking at me. Fang scraped his cage across the floor to look up at him, his eyebrows up.

"How is she?" Iggy asked, making sure he knew what Fang was 'talking' about. Fang nodded, and Iggy seemed to look closer at me. "Looks like crap, honestly. Skin's grey, she bleeding, too. I think she put up a fight again."

"Yeah," Stripes snorted. "It doesn't really help when she starts mouthing off to them."

I grinned.

"Well," Iggy took a rattling breath. "What I miss?"

"Not much." Stripes yawned, her tongue flicking back in her mouth like your average tired cat. "Fang screamed. Six words."

"You're joking." Iggy laughed, looking down at Fang, who was glaring daggers at a smirking Stripes. "Six words? That's, like, a record."

"Leave 'im 'lone."

"Max?" All three of them exclaimed suddenly, even Fang, all peering over at me. I didn't move from the bottom of my crate, aside squeezing my eyelids shut tighter before pulling them open. Then I groaned, making a weak effort to sit up, but falling back to the floor again. "W'ere's Fang?"

"Floor." Iggy replied promptly. "I think he pounced on an Eraser."

"G'd for 'im." I muttered, blinking again as Stripes stuck her tail through the bars to help pull me up. I grabbed it weakly, but she wrapped it around my wrists and pulled me to a slumped, seated position.

"How do you feel?" Iggy asked, eyeing the doorway warily. They had a tendency to take us at our weakest; little did we know there was a camera. We had thought they were psychic or something.

"Like… usual." I managed a shaky laugh. "You?"

"Same."

"Why does it keep doing that?" Angel asked, confused, as the tape clicked again and the scene switched. I shrugged, leaning forward. "It's like the tapes have a point or something…"

"Mmh." I agreed absently. Again, it was some time later. Fang, Iggy, Stripes, and I were being shoved into tiny cages (surprise, I know), and judging by the numbers of men dressed in white, I supposed that there would be more tests that caused needlephobia in impressionable mutants. Stripes was trying to reach her tiny hands through the bars of her cage and claw at them, but wasn't achieving much beside a few broken fingers as one kicked at her. I kept ramming my head into the side of my cage, trying to topple it over, but an Eraser had placed his foot on top and so I wasn't doing any damage.

Iggy, was actually making me laugh a little, watching him recite various attributes of different explosive materials. I had no idea how at four he knew all this stuff, but the whitecoats seemed to be avoiding his cage.

"And so when you add a bit of ammonium and hydrogen peroxide…"

Fang was quite the picture, though. He wasn't doing much, just sitting there, but anyone outside of our small group of four would shudder when they saw him. It was creepy. He was deathly still, but this darkness seemed to radiate outwards from him, almost like your typical horror movie child antagonist, minus the Victorian clothing and Russian accent. _The Orphan, _anyone?

I won't bore you with the usual details, ie. Screaming, shrieking in bitter agony, cursing, whitecoats scribbling on their notepads, Erasers laughing, a random experiment in the background, them remarking over my strange resistance to arsenic and how badly Fang seemed to react to liquid bromine, and of course, our reactions.

In four words? It didn't go well. Angel and Nudge were tearing by the end, and Gazzy wouldn't pull his face out of my shirt. All of us seemed to have frozen, neither Iggy, Fang, or I could move to turn the TV off, and so we were forced to watch as we were wheeled, twitching but otherwise paralyzed, from the room.

"You ancient creeps!" Stripes croaked as they strapped her limbs together before shoving her back in a cage.

"We are your elders." One said quietly. "Show some respect."

Fang spat in the whitecoat's eye. Needless to say that by now he had very good aim.

"We'll show respect when you let us out!" I screeched at her. "When you deserve it!"

I'd gotten slapped across the face for that, but again, it had bleeped out to another scene.

"Nudge, Angel." I tired to comfort them. "Shh… it's fine. We're all okay-"

"But they were so horrible, Max!" Nudge protested. "I don't know how this helps with saving the world at all!"

"They were probably paid to be horrible." I answered logically. I know, logic and I aren't really 'BFF's' as Total put it, but I'm allowed my moments.

"Has all I taught you really gone right through your ears, Nudge?" Iggy tried to tease. "Everyone's paid except us, and mostly for bad reasons."

Fang coughed, filling the sudden silence. Need I say 'for once?' But then he sort of flopped back on the cushions and closed his eyes, though they were turned to the ceiling. I ignored the screen, where I was being pulled out of my cage by my foot by four Erasers, and looked at him.

"Fang?" I asked, placing a hand on his forehead. He swatted it away.

"Why does everyone do that?" He croaked, though his voice was more a whisper.

"Because you're… burning up." I hesitated, glancing at Iggy, who smirked. If I had said 'hot' I had no doubt in my mind that he would make a dirty joke no appropriate for the younger kids in the room, and he knew it.

"'_I'm hot, you're cold,_'" Fang whispered in a slight singsong tone, like he was trying to sing but couldn't get the tune because his throat hurt too badly. "'_You go around, like you know, who I am but you don't, you've got me on my toes_.'"

I blanched as Nudge began to giggle softly and Iggy smacked his head against the wall.

"Jonas Brothers?" He groaned. "Where the hell did you learn that song?"

"Gazzy." We all answered at the same time, glancing at the little menace that had taken to torturing us with his mimicry abilities. He grinned.

"I thought Fang had better taste in music than that," Angel smirked, but came up to sit on Fang's lap and pat his knee. The corner of his mouth twitched. "Do you know the chorus?"

Oh. My. God. Holy. Crap. Hot damn. WTF?????

"'_I'm slippin' into the lava, and I'm tryin' to keep from goin' under.'_" But his concert ended abruptly as his voice gave out and he was only mouthing the rest of the lyrics.

"Want some ice?" Iggy asked. "It'd help the throat."

Fang hesitated, trying to decide if he would really (GASP!) ask someone for assistance, but then he bobbed his head once.

"Yes, Ig." I answered for him, "thanks." But he had already left to go rifle through the icebox in the freezer, and he came back a moment later with a large cube, which he handed to Fang.

"_'Baby, who turned the temperature hotter?'_" Gazzy finished in a perfect imitation, which sadly wasn't as pleasing as his perfect imitations of ter Borcht are. "'_'Cause I'm burnin' up, burnin' up, for you baby_!'"

"Spare me." Fang breathed around the ice cube. I rolled my eyes, and nodded Angel toward the TV, which she dutifully turned off.

"Well," Nudge continued on dutifully, as if she couldn't stand silence for more than a few seconds. "I think Fang's voice is fantastic, even if he's singing the Jonas Brothers with the avian flu with no background singers."

I smiled, and though it could have just been the fever, Fang's cheeks reddened slightly, but he managed a quiet "thanks." Which left both Nudge and I beaming. I pushed Gazzy to his feet, who walked over to Nudge and Angel, perusing the movies in the corner of the room.

"Max?" Angel asked in her sweetest voice. "Can we watch _Watership Down?_"

"NO!" Gazzy grabbed the illustrated rabbit cover from her hands. "_Star Wars!_"

"_Hairspray_." Said Nudge reasonably. "I like their funky clothes, and they can all sing and dance really good!"

"God no." Iggy moaned from the armchair. "I refuse to listen to that. How about _Underworld_, if we're watching movies."

"Nah." Nudge threw the DVD case across the room. "I'm tired of dark stuff. I want something light and fluffy. How about _The Princess Bride?_"

"Sounds stupid." Gazzy wrinkled his nose. I smiled.

"Ella said it was actually kind of funny. I think we could try it."

"Okay!" Iggy was suddenly very agreeable, but when he sensed me looking at him, he said that if it was funny… Then of course once Iggy agreed, Gazzy was okay with it, and Angel was interested as soon as Nudge read that it was about princesses, and I was fine as long as they weren't at each other's throats. Fang seemed to be out of it, and probably didn't care either way. As Nudge removed the other tape, which we had abandoned, and put in the other, I waved Angel to go sit with Iggy, and pushed Gazzy to the footstool. Then I nudged Fang slightly so he was leaning against the pillows more comfortably with his feet up on the couch. He didn't protest, but did blink slowly at me, a small _thank you. _I smiled, just returning the favor from that night/early morning. Understanding, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he patted the floor by his head with one hand.

Still feeling a little warm flutter in my stomach, I sat where he had specified and took one of his hands in mine. Barely inaudible, he sighed, but even before the FBI warning had gone away, he was asleep.

"I'm so excited!" Nudge laughed, hugging Angel. "Ella said it was good, and I love funny movies, and-"

Angel quieted her, though she did nod. "Fang's sleeping." Making Nudge look over her shoulder at Fang and I, and she abruptly shut her mouth, though she grinned at me. The movie began pretty soon after that, continuing without much incident beside Gazzy complaining at the beginning and the 'cheesy romance' and the occasional cough from Fang in his sleep. I resolved to call mom and ask her to pick up some cough drops and throat lozenges on her way home from work.

That is, until Wesley and Buttercup where running from the bad guys into the dark swamp place, and a rat shrieked, jumping out at Wesley from behind a tree. Fang shot bolt upright, looking around wildly until he caught us looking at him.

"Don't worry." I patted his pillow again. If anything, his dark eyes looked even more exhausted than they had recently. "It was just an ROUS."

Fang raised his eyebrows, but lay his head back down on the pillow, keeping his hand in mine.

"Rodents Of Unusual Size." Iggy explained. "I don't know how you slept through the man-eating eels, though. Nearly killed my ears."

"And Buttercup, the girl in the dress, Fang." Nudge explained, pointing at the screen. "She jumped in the river to escape her kidnappers, but then they rescued her. Which is weird, 'cause generally kidnappers just wanna kill you anyway-"

"Nudge." Iggy interrupted loudly, making her smile sheepishly.

"Thanks, but," Fang closed his eyes again. "I figured the guy wasn't Buttercup."

I grinned. "Would Total count as an ROUS?" I asked, for anyone to answer.

"Yesnoofcoursenotwhaat?"

"Hold on." I giggled, amused at the quick response. "Slower. Fang, I got yours." He had just nodded.

"Yes." Gazzy snickered. "Definitely.

"I think he's an ROUS, but Rodent Of Unusual Shape." Iggy said logically. "He's too small to be an Rodent Of Unusual Size."

"No." Angel growled threateningly. Yes, a seven year old growled threateningly. I could barely hold back the grin, she was just so _cute!_

"I dunno." Was predictably Nudge's answer. "I think he's an SFSOROUS. Sometimes Funny Sometimes Obnoxious Rodent Of Unusual Size."

It didn't take long for us all to be laughing, even Fang, who was chuckling softly with eyes closed.

"I think you guys are too harsh on Total." Angel grumped. "He's not that bad."

"Except when he hacks on Fang's blog." I answered for him, he was sucking on another ice cube from the bowl that Iggy had silently gotten up to get for him when it was clear that Angel wasn't going to drop the subject and he wouldn't be falling asleep again for a while.

"I think he's cute." Nudge looked at her nails. "And I like when he comes to sleep in my bed at night. Or sleeping bag. Or rock. You get my point."

I winced. These kids couldn't count on sleeping on a bed each night, or even a sleeping bag, and I felt bad about it.

"Well," Gazzy admitted after a glare from his sister. "I guess he can be funny. And he's great with pranking you guys."

"Traitor." Iggy spat, pretending to glare at the Gasman. "I think it's fun to prank him."

Fang muttered something that couldn't have been anything other than agreement. Yes, I do like Total, I'll admit it, but writing that stuff on the blog had been inexcusable. He would so pay for that 'she's my Max for Fang' thing.

"I'm with Ig." I announced. "You know what this means, right?"

"War." Gazzy rubbed his hands together. "You guys are so goin' down."

"_'Sugar, we're goin' down, swingin,'_" Fang muttered with a slight smile.

"You're so delirious." Iggy rolled his sightless eyes. We were now pretty much ignoring the movie. Yet again. Do I need to count how may times this happens? I guess our attention spans aren't that large… "I mean, you're talking more in song lyrics now than you generally do at all. Tell me, do you see prancing unicorns?"

"Nah," Fang croaked with a straight face. "The dragons just ate them. Now the," he coughed, but Iggy finished for him.

"Wait. Lemme guess. The unicorn riders, fairies, are p'od, but then they decide the dragon is so much cooler than the unicorns, so they thank him for eating their stupid ponies and all find dragons to ride."

"Yep." Fang popped the 'p' despite the agony his throat must have been in. I laughed, leaning my head back against his chest as the kids were reduced to hysterics. He placed on of his hands in my hair and began twisting a strand around his finger absently as his breathing slowed again.

"Truce until tonight." I announced, just so I wouldn't wake Fang up. His hand was still in my hair, making me smile. "Then Ella chooses sides and we notify Total. He may want to find out who his friends are."

"Yes." Iggy rubbed his hands together. "And let him find who he should fear."

"WAIT!" Angel suddenly jumped to her feet, making Fang startle again, but rolling his eyes, he fell back again just as quickly. "I totally just missed that! Wesley is the Dread Pirate Roberts?"

"Yeah, creepy mind reader." Gazzy sighed. "Way to skip over all that important lovey-dovey crap."

"That's why I have you." She smirked, looking like the devil hiding behind a cherub mask. "To torture you until you remind me what happened."

"I thought we were on a team?" Gazzy paled, his blue eyes widening.

"Oh." Angel pouted for a second, but then brightened. "Then that's what Iggy's for!"


	34. I Don't Want To Know I Hope?

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

**So. Apologies for not updating sooner.**

**However, on word, this is 26 pages long, not including authors note, so hopefully it will pacify you. Anyone else struck by back-to-school blues? September first is officially the bane of my existence. However, Percy Jackson movie, Presidents Day 2010! WHOO! Haha, on to reviewers.**

**Thanks, Cleo272!**

**Winged-Vampyre-Gallagher-Girl-hope I spelled that right, but glad you liked it.**

**katiegirl101199-haha, thanks!**

**Kelsey Goode-I'm thinking Stripes will have some significance… I rather like her :D**

**Random5185-updating… sorry for the wait**

**StarofCalamity-whoo! Multiple reviews, you make me happy *grins* but that will come up, Max's wings, that is…**

**LovelyNBlue-who doesn't like unicorn dragon fairies? Haha, thanks.**

**DracaCountess-yeah, opinions are totally welcome. I don't think I'll have many Total ones anyway, but thanks for the review and Latin! Ha, I sooo need to study before school starts…**

**Maddy-AH! I could go on about music and the flock, I have a whole playlist devoted to them *laughs* thanks tons!**

**Queen of True Love-awesome!**

**dancingqueen114-ha, feel free. Sounds great! Yes, let the war commence in chapter whatever we're on now… Haha.**

It was exactly three-o-clock.

Teachers in floor length skirts and collared shirts were giving Iggy and I curious looks, but what else is new?

Kids were swarming everywhere, jostling the both of us so much that I had to grab his arm to keep from being swept away, though a few smart ones seemed to avoid us. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you see a stranger in your school incase they have a gun or something? Granted, I haven't had much experience in the school department, so maybe I shouldn't be talking, but anyway, that wasn't the point.

_"Where's Ella?" _Iggy whispered tensely into my ear, bending down so no one would overhear. I tried to keep from rolling my eyes, if I knew, I would have told him, wouldn't I? "Wanna explain what's happening?"

"Maybe…" I peered over the thinning group of kids, only speaking aloud for his benefit. If I had been blind, I'd want to same thing. "Short girl, blonde hair. There! Dark hair, nevermind, she looks like a member of a cult..."

"Mei!" I jumped as the very familiar voice carried through the air. "Seriously, I've gotta go, I'm meeting my cousins, but I'll meet you at-"

"Yeah, I know." There was a snort. "Maybe you don't care that you left your algebra textbook back in your locker."

"Smooth." Iggy couldn't help but to laugh, I was holding back a grin myself. "Shall we accompany her?"

"Preparing to shall." I grinned, cutting through the crowd in the direction of the voices, and nearly slamming into Ella and her oriental friend by the water fountain. Mei glanced up at us, waved slightly, and shifted her caution tape yellow backpack on one shoulder. Seriously, I swear her backpack was reflective. If it had been her we had been looking for, we would have had no trouble. She had her stick and mask with her, but her practice shorts were bright orange, and, not that I usually notice stuff like this, but she managed to carry off wearing a brilliant blue shirt with it all. I prayed Nudge and Angel would never want to dress like that, because how would we ever hide out when a bat could see us? Granted, I bet if Iggy hadn't felt the colors radiating off of Mei, then he would have loved how she dressed.

Heck, maybe I'd let Nudge dress like that for Iggy, who wasn't being too sexist pig-like recently.

"Hey." She nodded. "See you later, Ells. We're catching a ride with Belle, right?"

"Yep." Ella rolled her eyes at me. I smirked. She still thought that Iggy and I were being obnoxious and over protective, and I swore if Mei hadn't been there, she would have been ranting about not being a minute late or something… Which she started on as soon as Mei bolted around the corner and out the doors. See? Proof right there that nobody likes school and can't wait to leave.

"Wow. Paranoid, much?" Ella groaned, turning around back down the hall. "C'mon. Need my textbook."

"We heard." Iggy caught up to walk in stride with her. "How was school? Do you have any brain cells left?"

"A few." Ella mused. "I can count them. My locker's down here." We turned another corner, passing a few empty classrooms and rows upon rows of sickly green lockers. I decided not to let Iggy touch them unless the headmaster wanted a rant from a blind kid about ugly colored lockers. If there's one thing Iggy takes seriously, it's color.

And gangs who have it in for my sister, but I think that should go without saying.

We talked quietly, though it was mostly Ella filling Iggy in on her day, which he never seemed to tire of, even when he encouraged her to tell him all about something she called the PopClick. That took some explaining, apparently they were these back stabbing bitches who for some reason everyone wanted to be and probably provided Abercrombie and American Eagle with 90% of it's income. Belle had actually come up with the term, Pop for 'popular' and Click for 'clique' and then it was amusing to say. PopClick! We spent a few minutes laughing about that as Ella rifled through her messy locker (okay, so I'm being nice. Messy might just be an understatement… just throwing that out there.) Then she led us out through one of the backdoors, which you actually weren't supposed to use, but though Ella might not be as bad as the Flock, she's not that into being told what and what not to do. From there, it was just a winding dirt path that led to the upper fields. The lower fields (closer to the school) were for the upperclassmen, apparently, which I find sort of redundant, because should the upperclassmen be in the upper fields? Ella said they have seniority, so they get the closer fields and make the younger kids walk up this one-way road to get to practice. It went past the tennis courts, then through a scanty forest that probably doesn't qualify for actual woodland, which made both Iggy and I slightly nervous. Hopefully Jose didn't mind getting his shoes muddy. Not that they could get any dirtier… let me rephrase. Hopefully Jose and his gang don't want to get their shoes and more muddy than they already are.

Ella didn't seem to pick up on this, though, and if she did, she didn't show it. I could tell she was still exasperated at us for being so paranoid. Have I mentioned how many times paranoia has saved our butts? Just thought I'd remind you then…

"Ella," I butted in to their conversation with my adorable bluntness. "Does the gang know you play lacrosse?"

"Sports are kinda big at school, Max." Ella sighed, aware that Iggy had stopped talking about something pyro-related very abruptly. "I would bet they do know-the lacrosse stick tends to clue people in."

"And they would be able to find their way to practice?" Iggy's brow was wrinkled, he was obviously concentrating, yet he still didn't trip on the unfamiliar path. He's good at stuff like that.

"Wouldn't take a genius, lucky for them…"

"But not for us." I couldn't help glancing over my shoulder worriedly. I had a bad feeling, y'know, that weird taste on the back of your tongue and a cold stone in your stomach?

"We'll be fine once we get to practice." Ella assured me, though she was looking nervous. "There're coaches and stuff, then parents sometimes park to watch their kids, so we can get a ride home with Belle. Unless you two want to…?"

I was glad for her refraining from saying 'fly' because if for some reason Iggy hadn't heard a cockroach crawling in the dirt, I didn't want said cockroach to guess at anything.

"Nah." Iggy said quickly at the same time that I shook my head. "We'll come with you."

Ella grinned. "Good. I know you don't like cars, but Belle's mom has a big van, she has a lot of siblings, but it'll only be her, Belle, Celine, Mei, me, and you two, so we should fit, I think. Just hope that Belle's older sister is picking us up instead, because otherwise Mrs. Boutin will be quizzing Belle and I on French the whole car ride home…" She laughed, and even Iggy and I managed tight smiles. "They're very French, Mr. Boutin was born in France, and Mrs. Boutin in Ontario."

"Do they have cool accents?" Iggy asked. "I love cool accents."

"Uh huh!" Ella nudged him, giggling. "But Belle and her siblings were all born in America."

"How many siblings?" I asked, kicking a stray pebble into the woods.

"An older sister, Marie; an older brother, Jean; three younger sisters, Angeline and Axelle are a year younger than me and twins, then Cecile who's six, I think, and a triplet with Emile and Leon, who're boys. Eight kids all together."

Wow. And sometimes just taking care of the Flock was a lot to handle. They did, however, all have awesome names.

"Isn't there a Disney princess named Belle? In yellow?" I asked Ella, trying to remember why I had always associated the name with ball gowns.

"_Beauty and the Beast._ Belle means 'beauty.' Which I find really funny, the Disney thing, that is." Ella clarified. "Because Belle is really pretty, but she's sorta like you, Max. Doesn't wear make-up, hates shopping and girly stuff. Her wardrobe consists of jeans, cargos, cut offs, Bermuda shorts-the ones that go to your knees-and random assortments of t-shirts. Except she's quiet around people she doesn't know, polite to strangers," Ella was laughing again now. I narrowed my eyes. "And doesn't accuse them of being a scientist. With us, though, she's sarcastic and opinionated. Whenever people say she's quiet, Mei, Celine and I just wish…"

"How long have you known them?" Iggy quizzed her, walking slightly forward as I tapped his hand. I could see the playing fields, and he could probably hear the kids.

"Celine and Belle I've always known..." She mused. "But surprisingly Mei only came to our school last year, but it feels like I've known her forever. We sort of reeled her into our group when we saw her snapping at the PopClick to get out of her way on her first day. Apparently they told her Asian kids could carry off neutral colors really well…"

"Racist, much?" Iggy muttered.

"What'd she say?" I decided I liked Mei.

Ella laughed again. "She told them that they could also carry off bashing someone's face in really well. And she asked Katie, the head of the PopClick cult, if she could give her any tips on how to carry off being a skank, because, sadly, Asians…can't….carry…off…being skanks!" Ella was in near hysterics now, her bag slipping from her shoulders. I grabbed it, snickering. "Belle, Celine and I saw the whole thing!"

"Priceless." Iggy chuckled.

"Yeah," Ella gasped. "She was especially angry because she loves color, and somehow carries it all off. Seriously. Sometimes she's like a little neon sign!"

"What about Celine?" Iggy continued to badger her. "She sounds French."

"Funny story actually," Ella told him, grabbing her bag back from me. "So her parents are actually German, Irish, Greek… uh, I think Indonesian, Ukrainian, Polish, Arabic, and Australian. I know, bizarre mix, but since their nationalities are so diverse, they decided to choose a name from one of their favorite countries. Mr. Zelig proposed to Mrs. Zelig in Paris, so they decided on a French name."

"How can someone be from that many countries?" I raised my eyebrows, I totally believed my sister, but you're talking to someone who was unsure of whether she was raised from a test tube for the first fourteen-or-so years of her life.

"Big family." Said Iggy wisely.

"Yeah, we had this school project one time, and she decided to trace her lineage back. Her family's huge, they range back a long way, and she found out that she's actually related to Hitler, J.R.R. Tolkein and Clinton Anderson."

"Clinton Anderson…?" Both Iggy and I knew who Tolkein was, despite our lack of literary experience, but he was a mystery to me.

"Famous Australian horse trainer." Ella explained. "Weird, huh?"

"Well, if she ever has some bizarre feeling to take over the world while riding a horse in a cowboy hat, I'll understand." I giggled.

"Do people know she's related to Hitler?" Typical Iggy. "I doubt that went over well."

"She had to announce to the class all the famous people, or infamous, in Hitler's case, but most everyone either doesn't care, remember, or is pretty chill with it. It wasn't as much of a scandal as when the seniors ransacked all the teacher's desks and left behind a ton of pictures from _Playboy._ The teachers didn't like that, much."

"No." I grinned. At least nobody had unleashed Iggy and the Gasman on them. "I'll bet they didn't." We had come to the edge of the fields now, and I could see some girls in the next one over who looked about Ella's age. They were wearing similar shorts, baggy t-shirts, had their hair pulled back, then the goggles and sticks were hug tip-offs. With my raptor vision, I could even pick out the familiar faces of Ella's friends, and I even recognized some of the other girls from the game. Practice hadn't started, a few were casually tossing a ball back and forth, but most were chatting casually, some still going through their stuff.

"Bleachers over there." Ella pointed. "Right next to our field, coincidentally." She winked, but then her expression was serious again. "And guys, I know you're worried and want to kick the gang's butts from here to next month, but practice is an hour and a half, so if you want to go, I'll be safe with my friends. Think about it. I'll be over there." Then she grinned again as she began to walk away. "Max! No interrogating people about their scientific curiosity while I'm gone! Iggy, keep her in check!"

"Yes, ma'am." Iggy saluted, laughing as I began to guide him to the bleachers.

"That was once!" I called after her, choosing amusement over annoyance. Always the better choice, and better for your health. God knows I have enough causes for my blood pressure to rise to abnormal heights. "C'mon." I growled at Iggy and I began to tow him off toward the bleachers.

*******

Lacrosse practice passed without incident, I watched the girls and relayed back to Iggy what was happening. I learned what a scrimmage was, to always cradle the ball above your head, that James Golphrey is officially the cutest guy in the grade above Ella, and that _Titanic II _was just a rumor. Well, I'm not exactly an expert on movies, stars, Hollywood, or the Titanic, but I do know that a second movie just wouldn't work. One girl, though, claimed she wouldn't mind it ruining the first one if Leonardo di Caprio made another movie. I guess whoever said that you learn when you listen wasn't just whistling Dixie.

"I still like Viggo Mortensen much better." Celine nudged Belle as they trooped over to Iggy and I. "Haven't you even seen _Hidalgo_? _Lord of the Rings_? Aragorn the Ranger and cowboys are so much better than a Romeo in LA or whatever it was."

"That hurt, Celine." Belle shook her head, feigning offence. "You just tore my heart out and shredded it into tiny pieces. Jack was a cool guy, though. He died for his soul mate."

"You and your mushy romances." Ella rolled her eyes, winking at me. "But I got my cousins obsessed with your crazy ring movie."

"Well you're obsessed with Johnny Depp! Benny and Joon was a sort of romance, but of course, you're a Sweeney Todd/Sleepy Hollow person." Celine grinned at Ella. "I can't stand gore. Remember when you made me watch that?"

_"'Ichabod,'" _Ella began to chat in an eerie voice. _"'Ichabod!'"_

"Goddess, stop!" Celine begged, holding her hands on her ears. I giggled quietly, but made a mental note to never let Angel watch Sleepy Hollow.

"Orlando Bloom. Best actor." Mei announced. "But I can't decide if I like him better as an elf or a pirate… Couldn't you be both?"

"I don't think any elves live in the Caribbean." Ella sighed. "But I can see what you're getting at." I had a brief moment to feel bad for Iggy who would have to listen to this for a while (and he had no patience for it) but then the four, giggling and slightly red-faced, reached us. "You guys remember Max, right?"

"Yep!" Celine grinned. "The girl I ran into. How could I forget?"

"We've met." Mei laughed, waving again. "But is this also your cousin?"

"Jeff." Ella explained. "He's blind, but has really good hearing and everything, so it's like he not actually blind, you know? Just thought I'd throw that out there especially seeing as-"

"That's so cool!" Belle suddenly brightened, but then she cringed. "Well, not that you're blind, I mean, 'cause that sucks, I-"

"Yes, Belle-Belle." Celine sighed. "You're chatty today."

"Of course I'm chatty, hello! We were just discussing Leonardo di Caprio! Anyway, my little sister's blind, but she's really... I dunno, sort of like how Ella explained you." Belle rushed to finish, kicking at her sporty friend who wasn't actually French. Although it sucked the one of her numerous siblings was blind, I was glad that she, and maybe the others, if they were really close, could relate to Iggy.

"Which one?" Iggy asked, interested (or just relieved that they had give up on actors.) "Ella gave us the lowdown on the way here."

"She's just a creeper like that." Mei snickered. "She knows just about everyone's birthday and cell phone number. In the grade."

"It's a talent." Ella grinned. "Let's start out with the MDB herself. Most Despised Bitch, that is, Max and Jeff. January Ninth. 635-9821."

"Axelle. She wants to be an architect when she grows up."

"Geoff Rodriguez, June twenty-first. 765-8873."

"That's cool." Iggy smiled. "Max thinks I should be a terrorist leader."

"He likes building stuff." I kicked at him, even though he darted out of reach. I didn't bother to add 'if' we grew up. "And I know he should. Plus he's got the whole evil-intent thing going for him."

"I apologized for that." Iggy rolled his eyes. "Besides, it was only one pair of jeans."

"Cary Brussels, November eleventh, 820-3812."

"My favorite!" I protested, much to the amusement of the others. "And one of only two pairs."

"Belle, your mom won't mind if they catch a ride with us, would she?" Ella asked, knitting her brow, but she relaxed again as Belle nodded. "Oh, Sharon O'Brian was born on February first. Her cell is 594-3061."

"Creeper." Iggy whispered, elbowing Ella. She laughed.

"And you know it!"

"Actually," Belle flipped a phone open as her pocket vibrated, which made both Iggy and I stop trying to kill each other immediately. "Marie's picking us up, she's in the parking lot now. Thank God. I haven't studied in ages."

"Same." Ella sighed in relief, but Iggy picked up her bag for her as she reached down and ignored her as she protested.

"Haha, suckers." Celine snickered, jumping slightly to get a better grip on her numerous bags. "Told you to take Latin!"

"Yeah, but your parents don't know Latin so when you need help you're screwed!" Belle laughed, leading the way across the field and toward the parking lot. "Mum and Pop almost didn't want me to take French, since I know it already, but they figured it couldn't hurt, and I could teach Angeline and Axelle."

"What do you take, Mei?" I asked the short girl bouncing her way ahead of us and reminding me of Nudge with her huge smile and energy.

"My parents made me take Chinese, which is so cliché I can barely stand it, but I make up for it with AL. Speaking of which, Ells, had we actually started working on the Mayans before vacation. I can't remember squat."

"No idea." Ella rolled her eyes. "I brought my book home to flip through, though."

"I still have to rememorize the Ogham alphabet for our test." The Asian girl groaned, jamming her stick into the ground. "And all the stupid lines-ugh! It will take forever!"

"Uh, Mei, car's that way." Belle, grinning, nodded her head in the direction of a light blue minivan, covered in those stickers you get at the dentist's in the windows and some French bumper stick on the back.

"Je t'aime?" I asked Ella. "Explain?"

"I love you." Ella pulled open the trunk and threw her bags in. "Toldja they're French. Hey, Marie!"

"Hi, guys." I could see in the rearview mirror a very pretty older girl sitting at the wheel. Her hair was light, just like Belle's, and pulled back into a ponytail with a few strands in front of her face. Unlike Belle, though, her delicate features were freckled, but her nicest feature was a nice smile at Iggy and I.

"This is Max and Jeff. They're Ella's cousins, you don't mind giving them a ride home, too?" Belle slid the door open, then climbed in the front seat.

"Actually," Marie grinned. "I do. We'll just leave them here." But, speaking sarcasm as a first language, I knew she was kidding and nodded in thanks as I followed Ella into the very back of the minivan. Iggy had no trouble, and I had to smile as I watched Mei and Celine watch him navigate his way perfectly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Marie." She continued, smiling a not-evil-I-enjoy-your-pain smile and put the car in reverse.

Ella and I were both sitting in the window seats, and so Iggy was in the center, his long legs stretched out, and he was the picture of casual until Mei accidentally kicked her backpack so it flopped over and brushed against Iggy's bare ankle.

He jumped, but when I touched his arm, he turned to grin at me.

"It's _highlighter colored!_" He whispered, so only I could hear. "How effing cool is that?"

"Mei?" I asked, barely suppressing a grin. "Where'd you get your backpack?"

She turned to look at me over the headrest. "L.L. Bean, actually. It was white, but white is just so boring! You know? Plus I'd get it dirty in a second, so I took a highlighter a colored as much as I could, then I used yellow tie-dye stuff to finish it off, you like it?"

"Very bright." I complemented.

"Everything Mei owns is bright." Celine muttered. "Even her dog who apparently had some accident as a puppy and now has pink fur."

"Mr. Darcy was one of those lab puppies, you know?" Mei explained. I nodded, trying to keep off the creeping sense of foreboding memories that threatened to come back. "And we adopted him, but he was always pink. No idea why."

"Maybe shampoo." Belle mused. "Grapefruit scented?"

"Strawberry."

"Please, guys." Ella shuddered. "I actually like fruit, lets keep it that way."

Iggy still had all his attention focused on the backpack lying on his foot, he was grinning wildly. I decided that if we stayed much longer, we would do some tie-dye shirts. Iggy, Gaz and the girls would love that. I also came to the conclusion that I needed to get Iggy a highlighter backpack.

******

"Okay," Ella began quietly, hunching down in the darkness of the closet. "What's the plan of action?"

Why were we hunched close together in a broom closet in the hall between the bathroom and the kitchen with a sick bird kid, may you ask? Why, to prank Total and his disciples of course! Yes, it was dang uncomfortable, and I really felt for Fang who could barely speak anymore, but things must be sacrificed at the most dire of times.

"I say we bomb him." Was quite obviously Iggy's whispered response. "Nothing deadly, I might add, just something I was working on the other day that would guarantee and accelerated heart speed and quite a lot of swearing. In front of your mom."

"Nice." I appraised, for once glad of Iggy's skill with flammable material. "Where and when?"

"Dinner." Fang breathed, not completely intelligible because of his hoarse throat, which had gotten somewhat better after mom had brought home the lozenges, but was no near as good as usual.

"Or we could sic your imaginary dragons on him." Iggy snorted.

"Ahh," Ella caught on quickly. "Fever delusions? One time I thought Magnolia had grown wings, after I had met you. Mom thought I was nuts."

"Wonder why." Iggy teased, trying to poke her with an elbow but hitting me instead.

"Hey!" I hissed, jabbing him back but hitting something hard. An actual broom, which toppled over and hit Fang on the head, but he tried to duck to the side and rammed into Ella who pushed into me and then Iggy who fell against the door with a very conspicuous noise, breaking it, and throwing us all into the thin hallway in a mixed up jumble of arms and legs.

"Ouch." I muttered, attempting to pull my leg out from under Fang, an arm from under Iggy, and get Ella's legs off my back all at once. In the tiny hall, I was not very successful.

"My head." Ella moaned, pulling it up for a second, before clonking it back down on the hardwood floor. Iggy was thrown across her back, but Fang had somehow tangled himself among us as well, and so we were pretty much a squirm-fest until there were hurried footsteps from upstairs, and in a rush my mom rounded the corner.

And stopped.

And looked at us, eyes _wide._

"Let me guess-"

"You don't want to know." We all chimed at the same time. She hesitated, tossing a handheld shovel covered in potting soil back and forth in her hands. Judging from the dirt smears on her face, she had been working in the garden and had probably retreated upstairs for gloves or something.

"Actually," she raised an eyebrow. "Why were the four of you stuffed in a small closet? You really aren't going to make me go through the whole Talk thing. It's just as uncomfortable for me as-" my face was reddening. We could all hear the capitalization on the Talk, so I wasn't the only one.

Fang, however, saved our lives right there by twitching his head to the side and heaving Iggy's torso off his back by a sudden coughing spasm where he managed to slither away and nearly hack his guts up by the door.

Mom seemed to smile knowingly, but she hurried to the kitchen to find some more cough drops. Fang continued for a moment, but slowly managed to calm himself without assistance. Iggy perked his ears, checking that mom was occupied, and whispered,

"Thank you."

Ella nodded; sitting straight and leaning her head back against the wall.

"So, Ella." I wasted no time in getting back to the matter at hand. "You remember how to block Angel?"

"Yes, well, I haven't tried it yet, but I think I get the concept. I don't think I'll betray us."

"Fantastic. So, according to the clock on the wall, the kids and Total will be back from the neighbor's house in about… twenty minutes. Iggy, this gives you plenty of time to start on dinner. Be sure that you don't let Gaz know you're slipping anything explosive into Total's food."

"Sir-yes-sir. Err… Roger that." Iggy saluted. "I just feel kinda bad…" He continued, smiling sheepishly. "Abandoning my loyal apprentice to his own devices."

"That's why we're only targeting Total." I explained. "We have nothing against the three others, they're just deluded." And the fact that they had a mind reader on their team… Just throwing that out there.

"Is it normal for Nudge to be looking through _Car and Driver?_" Ella asked randomly after a moment of silence, aside Fang's wheezing. "We had these random copies we picked up from a yard sale… I just wanted to be sure she and Gazzy aren't planning on blowing up mom's car or something to get to us."

"She loves it." I grinned, remembering the little Echo in Florida. "Plus I don't think they'd blow up mom's car."

"She's coming!" Iggy breathed suddenly. "I really liked Mei, Ella. She had a cool backpack."

"Oh!" Ella caught on instantly. "Yeah, she's pretty awesome. As I said, it doesn't feel like I've only known her for a year."

"Does she have a huge family like Belle?"

"You guys can quit the charade now." Mom announced with a smirk. "I'm not that dull, you know."

We looked at each other, grinning. Well, except for Fang. He was grimacing, mom was handing him his large dose of cough medicine, he hadn't been faking earlier.

"Bubblegum?" He raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Yep." Said mom, pushing the cup towards him. "Unless you want watermelon."

He debated for a moment, then took the sickly pink fluid and eyed it in mild distaste.

"Dr. M?" Iggy asked innocently, clearing the attention from Fang as he began to drink the meds. "I was thinking I'd make chili for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Anytime someone else cooks without messing up my kitchen is okay." She grinned. "Want some fresh vegetables from the garden?" Mom knew how much Iggy liked fresh ingredients, and he nodded enthusiastically. "I'll bring some in, then I have to check in at the office, but I'll be back before nine. I'm sure you'll be able to occupy yourselves."

We all nodded innocently seeming to say, _you gone until nine? Of _course _we won't wreck havoc. _'Cause I mean, scaring the hell out of Total wasn't complete havoc, was it? Well, depending on his reactions, maybe, but the actual act of which we were promising to do, didn't cause havoc. But I wouldn't let everyone wreck mom's kitchen, maybe just each other's clothes and hair outside with the inevitable fight that would come. In the meantime, we had to be the picture of innocence for the younger kids. We had decided to watch another video to cover any slip-ups that Angel might pick up on, and to pass the time as Iggy made the chili. Plus we had to entertain the Gasman while Ig set up the ROUS' special portion. Until then, though, we had to amuse ourselves, since mom wasn't leaving until she was sure everyone was safe. Despite Fang's protests that he was fine, we ended trooping up to the spare where I was sleeping with Ella's iPod and speakers in tow.

"This is so great." Iggy laughed, flopping down on Fang's mattress. "I can't remember the last time Max let me blow something up!"

"Yes." I said stiffly. "Take a picture or something so you'll remember it this time."

"It was at the E house." Fang said softly, as close to missing something as he'd ever get. I glanced at him, but his face was expressionless and he was looking out the window. "We spilled ammonium on Jeb's papers, so you let him set fire to them. No evidence."

"Ahh." I grinned, though it was bittersweet. I remembered the days when we weren't constantly worried about being kidnapped and tortured to death, we had thought that was just Jeb giving examples. They'd never actually happen, we were safe in the Colorado Mountains. "I think we only spilled it, though, because Gaz was trying to sneak it around me."

"I have trained him well."

I smacked Iggy, even though Ella was collapsing with laughter.

Fang sighed. The three of us glanced at him.

"What's so weird?" I asked, reading his expression. He rolled his eyes and didn't answer, but kept his eyes trained out the window.

"That." Ella whispered loudly to Iggy behind my back. "How she can read his mind. Without any extra powers."

"True dat." Iggy said with a try at gangster. He failed miserably. "And you don't have to live with it." I hit him again and waited.

…

Ella began humming the jeopardy theme song.

"How I have enough freaking time to be bored!" Fang finally glanced at me with an expression between humor and annoyance. I grinned.

"We're just not that entertaining, are we?" Ella sighed melodramatically. "C'mon, Iggy. I can tell when we're not wanted."

Iggy fake-sobbed, burying his head in his arms on the floor. "How could you, Fang?" He cried. "We're like, the four musketeers. And you're bored with us! That's like Total swearing and eating dog food! Or…" Fang waited patiently as Iggy ranted, making comparisons like Nudge not talking, or Fang wearing pink until Ella, Ig and I were laughing so hard he couldn't continue.

"Not bored with you." Fang said with a smirk. "It's weird. We're not being hunted and shot at, we could sleep right now and not be too worried. It's nice, but weird. You know?" I nodded, still cracking up on Ella's bed, tears streaming down my face. "And we really need to kill Total, but he's not back yet!"

"You're so delirious, man." Iggy snickered. "I probably shouldn't even be in the same room as you."

"Yep." He even grinned as he agreed.

"You already checked your blog," I laughed, ticking it off on my fingers. "We can't fly, because then we'd risk missing the others. The flu makes you feel like crap, but you refuse to admit it to anyone, because even though you're delirious and have a fever, you're too hard to crack. You can't sleep for the same reason that you can't go out flying, what's a mutant bird kid to do?"

We were all cackling now, Ella leaning on Iggy's shoulder and Fang and I backed up against the wall. Footsteps paused outside the door, but even without Angel, I could tell that mom wasn't prepared to figure out just what we had done this time.

*******

_Angel! _I called out mentally. I had heard the four approaching from the kitchen, it wasn't really hard when Nudge and Total were in the middle of a serious debate on the talent of certain actors and actresses. _Hurry up, Ella made popcorn. We're gonna watch the E house video._

_'K, Max! You should have seen the park! It was so cool! I got a snake, not a rattler, to crawl up my arm. But it scared Total._ I smiled to myself as the door opened and Total, Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge made their way into the living room, where everyone minus Iggy and mom where already seated.

"Ig's making chili." I informed them, ruffling Gazzy's hair as he sat down on a pile of cushions.

"Yum." Nudge grinned, finding a seat next to Ella in the large chair in the corner. "I love Iggy's chili. His is best, I think. Even the stuff we had in Mexico wasn't as good, though I don't know where chili comes from. Maybe Chile? The country?"

"Nudge." I breathed patiently. "Please. We wanted to start the movie _before _dinner."

"The funny one where you're all toddlers, just not in tiaras?" Total settled down into Angel's lap. "I'm in. I don't need any reminders on the Institute, again, I apologize, Max, but I don't think there's anything in there that I'll pick up on and you won't-"

"It's fine." I quieted Total quickly, sharing a look with Fang, who was sitting in the corner of the couch, next to me. He'd gone invisible a few times-accidentally-blending into the dark cushions and scaring the hell out of mom when she came in to say that she was heading to work. When he wasn't doing it to me-it was actually kind of funny. "And yeah. It's starting now." We had been fast-forwarding through what we had already seen, and Ella paused it when she reached the black screen after I had stormed out of the room away from Jeb.

As usual, little green letters and numbers pattered their way across the screen.

"You know what they remind me of?" I asked Fang. "Pacmen."

_Day 371 of Freedom, eight hundred hours. _Just over a year.

The camera showed a full view of our kitchen, which had a table to one side, which led into the living room, so you could see both rooms with one lens, then the stairs then led down right between the two. It was quiet for a moment, but then there was a loud sigh, and I came trudging down the stairs wearily. I was rubbing at my eyes, and blindly stumbled over to the cabinet where I opened a box of Cheerios and used the last dregs of milk. There were faint footsteps, which gradually grew louder, until an unseen door slid open. I knew it was a clear slider that led out to the backyard; one I had used so many times before and actually crashed through twice. Once was my fault. The other was Fang's.

"Hey, Max!" Jeb called over to me cheerfully around many bags of groceries. I wasn't sure how he had held them all, but my younger self rushed over with a huge smile and took two from him. "Thanks." He grinned down at me. "Where's everyone?"

I shrugged. "Nudge is asleep. Surprise, I know. Angel wanted to go strawberry picking, well, she didn't say so, she can't talk very much, but she ate the last of 'em for breakfast, so I sorta assumed she wanted more and had Fang take her and Gazzy into the hills."

"Good." Jeb had begun to unpack stuff while I spun around on a barstool. "Don't tell Gaz and Ig about the peroxide I got, good for cleaning out wounds."

"Yeah." I laughed. "I know. About both. Put it in with the…" I hesitated, slowing down to take a bite of cereal while trying to find somewhere that Iggy and Gazzy would not find the new materials. "Hide it behind the trashcan. They'll never find it there."

"Not true." Iggy announced from the kitchen. "We found it when you made us take out the trash a week later.

Damn. Plan thwarted. We were all laughing, though, even Fang, and that was good.

"And Iggy _said _he would clean up his room, but when I walked by he wasn't there, so I spent the last two hours looking for him to make sure whitecoats hadn't taken him or anything," I shuddered, "until I found him wiring up something in the backyard. I was about to kill him, but then he pressed this button and all these pretty lights came on, so I didn't. Which was good, because he said he'd make strawberry shortcake with the strawberries Fang and the others collect. If they don't eat them all." I frowned once and took another bite of cereal.

"Well," Jeb's tone had a spark of pride in it. "I'm glad you're keeping on top of things. I got you something at the store, you know. For being so good while I've been gone, and you've been learning really fast."

"I still haven't done the laundry." I blanched. "And it's my week, did you know I hate Sundays-wait, what?"

Jeb laughed kindly, glancing at my puzzled expression and pulling something out of the last paper bag. He pushed it across the island at me, and after examining it closely, I looked up at him.

"Condeyetoner?"

"Conditioner. You're getting better at reading, though." He praised, though he looked sort of awkward. "A saleslady said that girls like conditioner, that it makes their hair soft, but it's sort of like shampoo. She recommended coconut scent."

I had to laugh at how he sounded, like he wasn't really sure of himself.

"Oh." You could tell I wasn't really sure what to do with it, and absently picked up a chunk of my hair. It was clean, brushed, but nothing fancy. "Uh, thanks. Coconuts grow on palm trees, right?"

He nodded, turning back to the fridge to deposit some groceries. I still looked at the conditioner in confusion, before looking out the enormous floor to ceiling windows.

"I'm gonna get Nudge up, go flying." I jumped off the stool and whirled upstairs, leaving the conditioner behind. It looked abandoned, all alone on the counter.

"Well," Ella sighed. "He tried."

"He was more successful than me and my makeup kit." Nudge gave him that, flashing her pearly-whites at me with a large grin.

We all laughed at that, but a moment later, Motormouth Nudge was hurtling down the stairs behind me and we took flying leaps out the window, making the empty paper bags and any unsecured papers float around the room. Jeb shook his head with a small smile, and the screen blackened for a moment, but came back to life quickly. It was obviously the same day, I didn't know how the videos were spaced, it must have been random, but now I was sitting on the couch and looking despondently at an enormous pile of laundry.

"Sucker." Gazzy snickered, looking up at me. I hit him lightly on the head, but laughed all the same.

I sighed heavily and picked up a shirt, jet black.

"I wonder whose this is?" I muttered darkly and threw it back at the pile. Fang smirked.

"Half of it was yours. That's laundry you're talking about, right?" Iggy, again, called from the kitchen.

"Half of it was _not _mine." I replied angrily. "Not before you blew up my closet or after."

"Half of it was Nudge's." Angel announced knowingly. That we agreed on.

I sat on the couch for a moment longer with an expression of extreme distaste, when the door cracked open and, speak of the devil, Fang appeared. He paused when he saw me, half hidden by the baskets, then his dark eyes flicked to look at the light blue bottle on the shelf next to me.

"Found your new favorite color?" I asked irritably. He smirked, but raised an eyebrow. I sighed again. "Jeb got it for me. Conditioner. I have no idea what on earth it does, or what to do with it. Any ideas?"

"Ask Nudge." He answered, heading for the kitchen.

"Why?" I asked. As I said, the rooms were open, so it wasn't like I was shouting or anything while he grabbed one of those energy bar things from the pantry.

"Because she spent half an hour rambling to me about it." He answered shortly. "I'd guess she would know."

"Yeah, but then I'd have to spend half an hour to listen to something you could probably say in one word."

In assent, he took a bite of granola.

I waited as he, ever so calmly, tore the entire wrapper off the granola and chocolate bar and tossed it in the trash.

"Well… If it means skipping half an hour of doing laundry…" I was clearly torn. Nudge was cracking up next to Ella in the large, squishy chair by the door. I grinned at them. "Nevermind. Care to enlighten me?"

Fang took a bite of his bar. Chewed. Swallowed. I threw a shoe at him. Snickering, he ducked behind the island.

"It's good for your hair or something. But you leave it in longer to make it softer. Not that you would care about that."

"Thank you." I sighed, flopping against the couch but this time glaring at the traitorous bottle of conditioner. "Maybe I'll give it to Nudge. She would be ecstatic."

"Done with the shoes?"

"Yep." He came out from behind the counter, finishing off his bar and sat on the floor on the other side of the enormous stack of laundry. "You know," I continued conversationally. "I didn't even know we had this much clothing."

He rolled his eyes. I didn't need much more than that.

"Oh, right." I laughed. "You had laundry duty that week when we got into the mud fight."

"With accelerants."

"Took a while for Gazzy's hair to grow back, didn't it?"

Fang nodded and began to tap on the floor with his fingers. He was impatient, but when I glanced at him, he just shrugged. After yet another heavy sigh, I actually began to fold something. I know, my sense of initiative astounds even me sometimes. Suddenly, though, I paused mid-fold and looked towards the stairs, and a moment later Jeb appeared. Fang's mouth had been open a fraction, he was about to say something, but quickly closed it and looked out the window. I however, immediately brightened.

"Hi, Jeb!" I chirped. "Are you done with all your paperwork stuff?" I dropped the purple shirt and bounced over to him. In short, I was disgusted with myself. I couldn't explain why, because Jeb had hidden his betrayal well, if he was even aware of it then. Even now I couldn't be sure, but I still felt like it was my fault I hadn't ratted him out before.

"Yes, Max. Laundry, I see. Is Fang helping?" He glanced at Fang, who met his eyes and didn't look away until Jeb did, shifting uncomfortably. I watched the two with a slight frown, then rolled my eyes, deciding to drop it.

"No, it's my turn this week." I plopped back down on the couch wearily. "I probably shouldn't have waited until Sunday… Proclamation, right? And none of us have any clean clothes left…"

"Procrastination." Jeb corrected with a small smile. "But you're right, you shouldn't have waited." I nodded seriously to him, ignoring Fang as he rolled his eyes and shifted so he didn't have to look at Jeb. If Fang goes through all that trouble just to not look at someone, it's a sign. Either he's paranoid or you should listen. Unfortunately, I had been going with the first option. "Any plans for later?" Jeb asked, changing the subject. "If you're ever done with all of this?"

"I'm winging it." I shrugged, turning back to the laundry to start Fang's pile with a black sock. Then Nudge's with the purple tank I had abandoned before, and Gaz's with some camo.

"Bad joke." Gazzy coughed. "Really,"

"I hadn't meant it as a joke!" I protested as everyone, with huge grins, minus the Dark One, looked at me. "It's a figure of speech, you know? Like-"

"We know, Max." Ella laughed. "It's fine."

"Okay, Max." Jeb hesitated, looking about to turn to the side door. "You can't always wing it, though. Just remember."

"Yep." I placated him. Jeb, though he had practically raised us for a while, didn't know much about parenting, and didn't recognize the tone I gave him. It pretty much meant that sure, I'd remember, but would I follow the rule? Fang, both on screen and off, glanced at me with the same solemn eyes but a tiny twitch of the mouth, and it was kind of funny seeing how much and little he had changed over the years. The younger Fang, though, cast a dirty look to the door, which slid shut behind Jeb, then turned back to me, speaking.

"You don't have to listen to him."

I paused again, looking up from a pair of jeans. Before answering, I held them up for him.

"Iggy's."

I put them in his pile. "I know you don't like him, Fang." I said coolly. "And as you noticed, I don't always listen to him. Do you have any idea how bored I would be if I did?" I paused, he blinked. I took that as a yes. "But Jeb got us out of the School. We're safe with him, he gets us food, books, and don't you dare even think conditioner of I will throw another shoe at you." Quickly, I looked around, but all I came up with was Angel's baby boot. Irritated, I threw it back down and glared at a smirking Fang.

"I didn't have much to contribute in the shoe wars department." Angel giggled, looking up at me with her innocent blue eyes from where she sat next to her brother.

"But really, Jeb _was _a whitecoat, but now he's good. It wasn't his choice to not bring you and Iggy, but I made him, so it's all good. He's apologized, hasn't he?" I was on a roll, while Fang examined his fingernails. "He's made it clear that their wasn't any say on if he could bring you two, you weren't even in his care like Gaz, Angel, Nudge and I were. People make mistakes."

"Exactly." Fang muttered in that monotone of his. I glanced sharply at him.

"Are you saying that _I _might be making a mistake?"

"Ooh," Iggy called from the kitchen. "Fang is a dead bird kid."

"On Jeb." Fang continued absently. "Otherwise…" Let me translate: In three words, Fang can mean much more, in this case meaning: I think you're mistaken that Jeb is good, I still have a bad feeling about him, though I can't pinpoint it. Otherwise, you're fine and I don't think you're doing a bad job. On the contrary, you run things smoothly while Jeb is out.

"Well, thanks for your input." I muttered, a little red-faced. "And I'm not saying you're wrong, but this is just a feeling, right? We're all crazy and still see things that aren't, like the other day when Gazzy swore a whitecoat was in his closet. Jeb-"

"Once a whitecoat…" Fang interrupted coldly. "Always a whitecoat."

"What if Jeb wasn't a whitecoat? What if he was a spy?"

"For who?"

"I dunno. Someone trying to bring down the School, like the police! Or CSI, maybe NCIS. Special Agent Gibbs could be working on it, and don't give me that look, I know it's just a TV show, but it has factual base, right?"

"Is 'factual' a word?" Nudge asked, even as I stopped folding and Fang and I were glaring at each other. For a moment or two we were silent, waiting for the other to back down, but then at the same time, we huffed and turned around, him outside and me back to the laundry.

"Sure." He spat, about to continue, but then we both paused, and he whipped around to face the pile.

"What's that?" I asked, pricking my ears. Fang met my eyes as if to say, If I knew, I would have said something, wouldn't I?

"Bomb." We whispered simultaneously, then threw ourselves out the open screen door as the ticking suddenly stopped and a small scale mushroom cloud appeared in the living room. After creeping in hesitantly from outside and seeing the room covered in fine powder, shreds of clothing, and nearly choking on the grey smoke, I turned on my heel and screamed.

_"IGGY!" _I leapt out the door, wings already out, with Fang right behind me, fight already forgotten.

"Some things never change." Nudge giggled, looking at the wreckage the screen showed. "I remember that-we had to go clothes shopping all over again because you had waited all week to do it, so that was pretty much all of the clothing we owned-"

"Yes, Nudge." Gazzy snorted. "Even I remember that. Poor Iggy."

"What'd Max do?" Ella asked. "Hang him by his toenails from the highest window?"

"Close." I chuckled. "I duck-taped him to a chair, then made him listen to Teletubby reruns. Gazzy pulled the cute little kid act and got out of it."

"It wasn't my fault!" Iggy yelled irritably from the kitchen. "You were the one who threw my clothes in the drier when they were covered with accelerants!"

"You were the one who should have when I told you to clean up your room." I retorted. "How's it go again? Tarentella? Dixie?"

"_'Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala, _and _Po!'" _He snapped. "Get it straight already!"

"Well," I rolled my eyes. "Excuse me."

"You're excused."

"Three year olds."

"Shut up, Fang." We snapped in unison, much to the amusement of everyone else.

"What is this Teletubby, anyway?" Total grumped. "I feel out of the loop."

I resisted the urge to say 'good.' Hehe, love that dog, but love tormenting him, too.

"It's a TV show." Angel offered. "Kind of stupid and for little kids."

"Yes, I got that." Total scratched at his muzzle with a look at Angel. "But thank you, at least some people around here show courtesy."

"How do you mean?" Angel rubbed behind his ears. I looked up at the ceiling, exasperated.

"I mean someone locking me in the refrigerator!"

"Whaat?" Iggy called from the kitchen. "You're serious."

I glanced at Ella; she was as clueless as I was. Gazzy and Nudge, by the way they were trying to hold back laughter, had obviously nothing to do with the incident. Who on earth would shove Total in the fridge, though? I mean, who would ever get that seriously irritated at him and had problems with-

"Fang." I turned to him, glancing innocently out the door and ignoring Total's pointed glare. "You did not."

"Darn, that was real?" He suddenly smacked his forehead and looked down at Total with a grin. "Sorry, I thought I was delusional."

"Keep this up and you'll have a reason to be delusional, Buster." Total growled, baring his tiny teeth. He looked kinda cute. "Stop laughing, Angel."

"Tip. Don't call Fang 'Buster' if you want to be able to fulfill that threat." Iggy suggested loudly. "Or any other life goals, Total."

"Guys." I said loudly over the maniacal laughter and spitting coming from Total's general area. "Let's just watch the movie, get it over it." Not that I really cared about watching the movie, which was cute, slightly heartrending, but cute. Instead I just wanted to keep Total alive long enough to see the expression on his face when his chili exploded.

Ha. Not that I'm counting down the minutes or anything.

_Day Four-hundred of freedom. Twelve hundred hours. _Catchy, isn't it?

"Max? I'm hungry, and Iggy's sick. But Angel, Gazzy, and I are _starved _but we're not hungry enough to eat your food. Can we get take-out?"

"From where?" I asked patiently, putting away clean dishes. Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman were all looking up at me innocently, completely ignoring Fang, reading comics at the table.

"Chinese!"

"Greek!"

"Italian!"

"Or you could get Fang to make you something." I affectionately kicked them towards the Ring Wraith at the kitchen table, who was glaring at me. You traitor. I glared right back.

"But…" Gazzy hesitated, glancing from me to Fang. "Fang doesn't cook."

"Well he can try." I said snidely. "It's probably better than mine, anyways. Make him whip up some turkey sandwiches or something. If he can handle that." I had dangled the bait in front of Fang, mature maybe-nine-year-olds that we were; he threw a napkin ring at me. A napkin ring we had never used, but a napkin ring all the same. I flipped him the bird and was immensely glad mom wasn't there to see it. I didn't need to do anything back, though, because I'd already let out the harpies.

"Can I have mustard on mine, Fang?"

"Yeah, and ketchup!"

"Ketchup's gross you idiots. Relish!"

"Not with your digestive tract!"

Fang didn't say anything to the three, just got out a loaf of bread, turkey, mayonnaise, and their requested condiments, laying them out on the counter.

"Nudge." He muttered, glancing at her. She didn't need much more prompting.

"Okay! Mayo first… a little more than that, but please, don't let Gaz have any. Yes, then two slices of turkey, can you cut the skin off? It doesn't taste-thanks. Um, and ketchup…relish…then a smiley face with the mustard on top of it all!"

Fang froze, looking at her with the mustard bottle in hand.

"A smiley face?"

"Uh huh. Right there."

"You're an artist." I informed him as we watched him draw the little man in mustard on Nudge's sandwich, then kill him with the second slice of bread.

"Oh! Me next. No mayo," Angel chirped. So she could talk well for being so young, but genetically enhanced mutant, remember? It was built in for us to be advanced. In some areas, as I've mentioned, we're not too good in the Rules and Manners department. "Turkey. Then a ketchup head with relish hair and mustard smile and eyes! Ooh, thanks, Fang! It's perfect!"

I was watching with a half-smile, leaning against the counter as Angel wrapped Fang in a hug. He looked a little bewildered, but resorted to normal Fang behavior and stiffened into an immovable board until Angel scooted away. Gazzy ordered plenty of mayonnaise (which Fang ignored) then a slice of ham and one of turkey, then he wanted a race car. It was red with green stripes and a little yellow person, complete with red eyeballs. By the end of all this, I was still standing in the corner, but laughing quietly.

"I remember this!" Gazzy cackled, turning back to look at Fang, who smiled down at him, sitting next to his sister. "Ang, remember how you went through that unicorn phase and made him draw a unicorn on a whole French bread loaf?"

"Of course." Angel smiled sweetly. "Unicorns are amazing."

"Even if Fang's delusional dragons eat them." Nudge snickered.

"Then there was the fairy phase," I ticked off on my fingers. "And the raccoons. And the rabbits-no, that was Nudge. Mermaids! There we go."

"Like Ariel." Angel nodded. "I think I could be a mermaid, I can breathe underwater, after all."

Fang and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing. _Pray she doesn't grow fins._

"And you had to draw all these on sandwiches?" Ella raised her eyebrows in disbelief at Fang. He bobbed his head once, the hint of a smile in his eyes.

"Gazzy almost always asked for a racecar," he mused quietly, voice hoarse. "Until he got into explosives. Then I did rifles until Max saw…"

"And your skin was died pink after the ketchup exploded on you." I reminded him tartly, ignoring the others, now roaring in laughter.

"That I would have liked to see." Iggy chortled, walking in while wiping his hands off on a blue and yellow dishtowel. "Where are we now?"

"Is dinner almost ready? I'm starved."

"I don't care."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh, I think… we're eleven now. Right?" I looked to Ella, the only kid who actually went to school in the room. After frowning momentarily, she nodded.

"Now do you care?" I turned to Iggy, pouting. "What if I dropped dead, right now?"

"Ten minutes." He rolled his sightless eyes with a smirk.

"Judging by you two bantering," Ella mentioned slyly, making me turn to look at her warily. I mean, I had to get my wolverine-like tendencies from somewhere, and Ella and I were related… "I'd say you're still eleven. But that's just me."

I wrinkled my nose. "C'mon, at least give us twelve."

"Ten."

"No deal."

"This isn't a game show."

"It'd be a darn good one. _Birdkids in the House. Plus Two. And Three Canines._"

"You're impossible, Max." Ella snorted. "That's not even a good show name!"

"Than what is?"

"I'll get back to you."

"Good."

"Good."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"She's not the only ten year old."

"Shut up, Fang!"

"Why do I seem to hear that a lot, lately? Aren't you always thinking, why doesn't he talk in more than three-word sentences?"

"Not always." I threw a pillow at him. "Only about 99.99999999% of the time."

"That's practically always." Iggy smiled sweetly. "It's so nice to hear that you lovebirds have each other on your minds that often."

We both threw pillows at him, making him retreat into the kitchen.

"It's true! I mean, you've even got synchronized pillow-throwing! You guys could compete!"

You know what we also have down to an art? Charging after irritating blind bird kids.

"And that, kids," I heard Ella say seriously. "Is how not to deal with a problem in a mature manner."

Hey. We're not _that _immature. I mean, Iggy wasn't even bruising that badly when we settled down for dinner about ten minutes later. I hadn't been just being obnoxious earlier, I was _starved. _So when Iggy placed the steaming vat of chili in front of us, I would be lying if I said we didn't dig in like pigs. That is, after a certain special someone came to join us. I only wished that mom was there to witness the affair, because Iggy put a special bowl down in front of Total.

"Thank you, Iggy." Total breathed deeply, inhaling the aroma of the chili. "I must say, I was a bit concerned after the younger set informed me about, ahem, how shall I put this? Certain _allegiances _that were made earlier today. Well, I for one am glad you do not take this immaturity to heart. Or shut me in the fridge. For that I am also thankful."

"Is it Thanksgiving?" I asked irritably. "Shut up and eat, Total."

He glanced at me, rolling his eyes, then put his nose into the bowl.

I'll admit, it was impressive, as Iggy liked to say, 'for sonic blast alone.' I mean, it didn't blast Total into a dog-shaped hole in the wall, but he shrieked, flying backwards into Nudge's lap as a layer of beans exploded like firecrackers.

_Pfft! Putputput pssshhhhhhhhhhissssss!_

Then there was a glorious array of sparks above the bowl. Kind of like fireworks for Polly Pockets. Finally, when it was all over, and the last little light fizzled out in Gazzy's water glass, we all looked speechlessly at Iggy.

"What on God's green goodness was _that_?" Total whimpered from under Nudge's jacket. "Did… did… my chili, just…"

"Your chili asplode." Ella announced in a robot voice. "Terminated."

Fang high-fived Iggy, and then all three of us were laughing.

"Success!" I cheered.

"To think I had just said all that about you," Total sniffed, still shaking as he barked at Iggy. "We quit dinner."

"Regroup and plan." Nudge stood, followed by the younger two, but grabbed her chili anyway. "You guys are dead. But it was an awesome explosion! Like little sparklers, oh, but, uh, completely wrong. You could have killed my client. Yeah." Her voice went gruff at the end as she tried to stay serious, and then she kicked Gazzy as he also high-fived his blind friend.

"Awesome." Ella cheered, leaping up to hug Iggy, who froze, blushing deeply. Ella didn't seem to realize what she had done, but danced away and took a bite of her dinner. "And great food. Yet again. Do I even want to know how the beans exploded?"

"Probably not." I grinned like a fool, watching Iggy as he stood, speechless, by the stove. I glanced at Fang, who had the most peculiar, almost knowing expression. Most likely more fever issues.

"Ice cream?" I asked him, scooting a bit closer so we sat shoulder-to-shoulder when he coughed again.

"'Life's short. Eat dessert first.'" Ella said knowingly, already getting out a bowl for Fang and pushing Iggy to his chair so he could choke down something, but to me, it didn't look like he would be eating much.

**Alright everyone, so for you Miggy fans out there… If I haven't made it clear already, this is a Max/Fang pairing fic, so sorry. Just wanted to clear that up for this chapter-because even though they're not together Iggy and Max can still hang out, and they're practically brother/sister. Just clarifying. And was that even a trace of Eggy there at the end???**


	35. Sometimes, A Friend's All You Need

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

** So short chapter… But short and sweet, and I'm updating sooner than usual! Enjoy!**

** Kelsey Goode-yeah flashbacks!**

** StarofCalamity-10,464 including authors note *laughs***

** Thanks, Queen of True Love!**

** pinkcatheaven-another CSI addict! Haha, I love that show, but agree with you on Miami. I prefer NY, but Las Vegas is okay to. Thank you!**

** Winter Midnight-probably, can't wait to write it!**

** LovelyNBlue-haha, glad you liked it.**

** Total's small, he'd fit, Maddy. Haha, yes! **

** Without further ado…**

"Nobody's died yet." Mom grinned, hanging up her coat in the doorway the next day at around five-o-clock. She was home early.

"Yet." Total announced grimly from where he sat, grooming Akila, "this is war, Martinez!"

"Glad to hear it."

Ella and I looked at each other. The three dogs, six birdkids, and human girl were are relaxing on the front porch, thoroughly exhausted after an epic battle that began with a badly positioned hose and ended with a tree branch. Mom sounded a little off, though. Distracted. She was tapping her foot impatiently as she looked down at us, Ella reading to Iggy from some book, Nudge braiding Angel's hair, Gazzy flipping through an old costume magazine from the Halloween before. Being the sweet little couple that we are, Fang and I were simply sitting with our backs leaning against the house. It's called companionable silence.

"What's up, mom?" I asked her, getting to my feet and brushing my jeans off.

"Is that a hole?"

I looked down to where she was pointing, ah. There was a gaping spot where my knee was. Whoops.

"Hehe." I giggled nervously. They'd been new a week or two ago. "Maybe. Or maybe you have x-ray vision. But don't try to avoid the question."

"What question?"

"Don't you walk away from me!" I jumped up, grabbing her arm to pull me with her to the kitchen.

"You are impossible."

"Correct!" I grinned, pushing her down in a chair, with Ella following close behind and fixing her mom with a stare. The Flock seemed to have decided it was a family matter and stayed on the porch.

"Spill." After a moment Ella announced. "Please, mom?"

"There's nothing to spill." Mom said stubbornly. I glanced at Ella.

"She does this whenever she gets asked on a date!" She giggled, grabbing hold of my arm and bouncing up and down excitedly.

"_What?_"

"It is not a date." Mom said stiffly as I turned to grin at her. "It is merely a business discussion over dinner."

"A date." Ella and I chorused at the same time.

"Who's the rock?" Ella begged our mom, even though she was already getting up to grab something from the fridge. "What time? And where? How did he ask you out? Thank God you said yes, you haven't been out in ages, even with friends! Though I'd rather it be at a club with your friends than with some guy."

"She's like my mother." Mom stage whispered to me behind her hand. "She has to approve."

I laughed.

"Mom!" Ella whined. "Please?"

"Fine." Mom brought us up to her room and fell back on her bed with an enormous sigh. "I was talking about animal abuse and puppy mills with a very nice man who came by the clinic today, then he asked if I'd like to continue the conversation at seven tonight. It's nothing major, just another option to stop cruelty in this world-oh God it's a date."

"You sound like Max."

"Nudge!" I whipped around to find her and Angel in the doorway. Both had enormous, evil grins on their faces.

"It's true, when Fang asked you out in Hawaii you spent more time getting dressed than you've ever done _combined-_" I clamped my hand over her mouth as the other three laughed quietly. She pushed me away and darted over to mom's closet, throwing the doors open with a flourish, completely forgetting me. "Okay, so what kind of place will you be eating at? Fancy? Steakhouse? Bar and grille?"

"Semi-casual." Mom smiled slightly, winking at me behind the other three's turned backs. "I was thinking khakis and a nice shirt."

"No, your dark mega-flares will be best, mom." Ella shook her head, already diving into the piles of clothing and throwing something at mom's head. "You look great in those, then try this, and these, oh, and that shirt is super cute."

"These kitten heels." Angel held them up, simple black with a little silver buckle. "They'd show off your legs."

"Thanks, sweetie." Mom smiled at the seven year old, then looked at me. I was glad someone shared my views on clothes. Frankly, mom and I could have cared less, but I sat there for moral support as Nudge and Ella shoved shirt upon shirt on mom until they finally decided on her dark flared jeans, black kitten heels that would give her just enough height, and a simple black v-neck. There was some special wording Ella used for the design on the collar, but it's not like I was going to remember it.

I was in charge of mom's hair, and once I clarified they couldn't change anything I did, I pulled it back into a one of those half ponytails, where you don't pull all the hair through so it's like a little spiky bun. Mom has great, dark hair, even though I generally don't judge on that kind of stuff, but some of it fell around her face in a little frame when I was done. It had taken three minutes.

"Simple," Ella stepped out in front of mom, who was grimacing. "Yet chic. I like it."

"Glad you approve." I said sarcastically, folding up the clothes Ella, Nudge and Angel had thrown aside and replacing them in the closet while listening to the three argue with mom about the necessity of make-up. Like me, mom never wears it, and in my opinion, doesn't need it, but Angel insisted upon being allowed to put on some light pink lip-gloss, and Ella added some mascara.

I think mascara is a more appropriate name for an African parrot than cosmetics, but again, that's just me. As for Gucci, I always thought that was a breed of dog…

**Fang Point of View-okay, so I don't know how successful this will be, so sorry if it sucks, I'm much better at Max's point of view, but I promised… Tell me if it sucks and to stop or whatever.**

"Well." Iggy looked in the direction the girls had disappeared to. "That was…"

"Interesting?" I supplied, biting the edge of a fingernail and trying to ignore the ache in my throat. Hint: Avian flu sucks. Not as much as some things, global warming, for instance, or Total getting fleas, but it's definitely up there.

"That would be a good word for it." He stretched. "Ella better have bookmarked that page, though."

"Yep." I glanced at the large, beat up, blue book that had been thrown across the deck. Yet, it still looked like Ella really cared about it. I've noticed that the most worn out things seem to be to be the most loved, Ella's books for instance. All of them, dog-eared (sorry, Total), dirty, musty, little water stains, a few rips in the pages, but they all have character. Ella seemed like the person who would lay her life on the line for her books. "_Eragon?_"

"Mhm. We watched the movie, remember? The kid with the dragon, Saphira?"

I nodded my head back against the wall.

After a few moments, I cleared my throat, and asked, "how is it?" And I was glad I was talking to Iggy, because I didn't think anyone else would have been able to hear the rasp. Quickly, I unrolled another cough drop.

"Pretty good, actually. Ella raves about it," he picked up the abandoned book and put it carefully on a deck chair, vacated by Nudge and Angel.

"You sound like Max." I heard from the open door and pricked my ears, but Max had apparently thrown herself on top of Nudge so the rest was a bit muffled.

"Ig-"

"Shush. We're listening to Nudge humiliate Max!"

Gazzy sat up attentively, putting aside his magazine.

"It's true, when Fang asked you out in Hawaii you spent more time getting dressed than you've ever done _combined-"_

_ "Nudge!"_

Gaz and Ig burst into silent laughter, careful not to be heard by the other people with advanced hearing, and even I couldn't help grinning. If Nudge wasn't exaggerating… suddenly I didn't feel as I had a few moments before.

"She knows how to lay the hammer down." Iggy snickered. "God, I would pay to see Max's face right now."

"Same." Gazzy muttered, but he was flopping back into the cushioned chair. "But I've got to protect what's mine."

"Careful." Iggy held up a finger. "Do not invoke the wrath of the small, evil, and make-up possessing girls."

"Good point." I muttered, popping another lemon throat lozenge thing. Really, is there a difference between throat lozenge and cough drop? I mean, they both help your throat, right? And they both are always in really awful flavors, so it works for me. Then I glanced slyly at Iggy as I heard Ella say something upstairs… "Unless you want to be in close proximity to them."

Iggy threw _Eragon _at me, blushing furiously while I dodged and laughed. Gazzy glanced at the two of us.

"Uh, Fang? Why would I want to be near them? Especially if they have make-up?"

"Because they love how you make chili."

Gazzy was still confused, watching me with his enormous blue eyes. I had to work to keep my face straight as Iggy radiated fury.

"You need meds." The eight-year-old finally decided on, picking up his magazine and walking inside. "I'm gonna get a cookie."

"He's right." Ig glanced at me darkly. "Especially after I get to you."

"Oh don't lie and say you didn't enjoy it." I scoffed, picking up the book now lying in the dirt.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

I nodded. Sure. Of course. While I waited for his glorious comeback, I sat down again and took a sip of lemonade.

"Well," Iggy spluttered. "It's not like you don't enjoy all the fax going on now. Or do you prefer mang?"

He knew it grated on my nerves. He knew I'd grit my teeth, but I just don't give in that easily.

"You admit it." I stated simply, working to keep my voice cool.

"No! Well, I mean, wow, awkward I mean how was I supposed to know she'd run up and hug me like that? I mean, who does that? But, it was nice, you know? She didn't even mind my wings! Do you know how hard it is to find, a human, Fang, who doesn't mind our wings, or even care about them?"

Carefully, I processed what he said, and looked up at him, now pacing wild-eyed across the deck. For a moment, I really wanted to tease Iggy. I mean, who doesn't, and how could you pass up a chance such as this? But trying to get a certain girl to not run when I kiss her and living with her while she was so freaking oblivious for a year apparently granted me some patience for this kind of stuff. I know, Fang has feelings. Mushy feelings at that. Everyone's surprised.

"She's nice." I gave him.

"Nice!" Iggy exploded, but then winced and shut the open door, continuing in a softer voice. "Fang, if this is how you felt I'm sorry I ever teased you and Max before you got together. She's…but it's probably just some stupid crush."

I glanced up from picking at the floorboards as Iggy changed from ranting to admitting defeat with a sigh and turning so he didn't have to face me.

"Or not." I supplied, working hard to keep my voice calm. _Just some stupid crush. Complete accident. She didn't mean it. _I touched my fingers to my lips without realizing; feeling her kiss after Ari had shredded me on the beach in New York…

"But she's human. She wouldn't want to be with a blind mutant. And I couldn't be with her, Itex would target her…" Iggy seemed to have ignored me completely, now getting into Thoroughly Depressing Mode.

"Itex has enough reason already." I reminded him. "Max's sister, remember?" I hesitated, biting my lip, before deciding on actually being normal for half a second and supplying more than ten words per minute. "Besides, you can cook, she obviously likes you, she laughs at your jokes and stuff."

"Did you seriously just give me dating advice?" After a moment, Iggy had turned on his heel and looked down in my general direction. "Gaz was right. You need meds, if you're not already high on 'em."

"Wasn't that what you wanted?" I said coldly.

"Well," he hesitated, scuffing his feet. He didn't need to say anymore. Yes that was what he wanted, but he was also sorry. I rolled my eyes. Couldn't Max talk to him about stuff like this? Iggy's my brother and everything, we get along, but as you might have guessed from Max's very direct books, I'm not into the whole feelings-talk stuff. Leave that for American Girl.

"Besides." Iggy's voice broke through the tense silence. "She just thinks of me as a friend, and I don't know if that's what I think, you know? I sound like Nudge now, but I'm not sure, do I want her as more than a friend? God, if this takes me months to figure out like you and Max I swear to God I will kill myself. No, I swear I'll kill myself after I stop talking because I can't believe I'm actually saying all this goddamn crap."

After he had finished, a good minute or two later, I stood slowly and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sometimes, a friend's all you can ask." I said quietly. Then I glanced down at the book, Iggy was now holding it in his hands, running his fingers on the pages thoughtfully. I didn't move, but listened, and it sounded like the others would be upstairs for a while. Carefully, I pried it from his hands and opened to the page Ella had left a small blue jay feather. The pages were yellowed, worn thin by use, and notes jotted along the side.

Iggy knew what I was asking, so he nodded once with a slight smile.

"Fang?"

I hesitated.

"Thanks."

I smiled.

_"'What's the difference? Doesn't the fact that I used magic make me a sorcerer?'_

_ 'Not at all! A sorcerer, like a Shade, uses spirits to accomplish his will. That is totally different from your power. Nor does that make you an ordinary, run-of-the-mill magician, whose powers come without the aid of spirits or a dragon…'"_

A little while later, I was still reading in between sips of lemonade and cough drops, when Max escaped from the horde upstairs and settled down on the steps on Iggy's other side. I smiled at her, placing a hand on Iggy's knee as I began to describe the pillaging of Yazuac, because sometimes a friend is all you need.


	36. We May Be

**Chapter Thirty-Six**

**Nice, Luna. And Rose and Ella. Love Eragon! The books, movie was also good, but didn't compare to the actual books. And yes, Saphira and Arya are AMAZING. Dr. M's date will come up, don't worry… Hehe.**

**Thanks, LilyHasWings!**

**Queen of True Love-yeah, sorry, I left my computer at my dad's for a while, so hopefully this is soon enough. Thank you! **

**Oh, no problem, pinkcatheaven… Yes, I'll say it one more time. Love CSI! Haha, enjoy the chapter.**

**Maddy-niice… but thank you. That sounds like something I would do. Have done. But nobody knows that…**

**TulipBook-yes, short, to the point and easy to understand! If only everything could be like that…**

**LovelyNBlue-glad you liked it! Hope I didn't screw up too badly with Fang, but I think they needed to have some "boy time" as my mom calls it.**

**So, indescriable destruction, or Rose, whichever you prefer, I am very glad you liked Fang's POV! As for the next MR book, I am looking forward to it! We've all tried writing fax and stuff, but it really only started at the end of MAX so we'll see if we actually got it right or not. Plus I'm looking forward to the whole 'holy crap WTF' scene where the prediction comes in. I think it will be very action packed/tense and AMAZING. And I don't think Fang will die. But thank you!**

**Sky-Angel14-I think she might! **

**StandardAngel717-don't explode! Haha, hope you like the chapter.**

Sometimes, washing dishes is extraordinarily tedious. You're just about ready to smash every single gosh darned plate into tiny pieces, that is, unless your thinking about other things besides smashing plates. For me, I just relished the small chance of having my mind to myself (a rare chance) and to think things through.

I was mostly worried about Iggy and Nudge, though. In one sitting we had watched both Ig lose his sight, and Nudge nearly die of heat. I don't want to go into details, all it did was bring back memories for me, but I had to stay strong for the others. Which was pretty hard because every time I remembered that first month, I really wanted to find a really strong rope, barbed wire, and Iggy's two whitecoats. Let your imagination figure out the rest.

Sometimes it sucks to do the dishes because my mind has a tendency to wander. Generally to a select few choices.

1. Itex/the School/Saving the world from eternal doom. All that crap.

2. Fang.

3. Where Iggy and Gazzy are and what they smuggled away with them.

4. Fang.

5. Fang.

6. And recently, this slot had been filled by past recollections from the videos Jeb had oh-so-helpfully provided.

I didn't really feel like dealing with anything in category one, or thinking up punishments for Iggy and the Gasman, and decided that if Fang really did take up three categories, that was enough thinking for now. Not to mention the fact that he took up seven through eleven, too, and eleven was all I allowed myself.

Fang. God, watching the latest clip from the E-house had been hilarious, although Fang was furious when he found that there was a camera in his Black Hole. Well, until a moment after we had adjusted our eyes to the dark room flooded with light from the floor to ceiling windows, which gave me a minor headache, and Fang had bolted into the room, quickly turned, moved down the door at lightning speed, and a second later was sitting with his back to the door.

His room had twelve locks. Ella found that hilarious.

Then his door had nearly fallen off the hinges as something rammed into it, and he darted away to push his bed in front of it, then place his feet on the opposite wall to hold the entire contraption shut.

_"FANG! YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"_

Fang had just laughed and pushed a dusty bookcase onto the bed. The door had stopped shaking.

_"OF ALL THINGS, UNICORNS! I SWEAR TO GOD…!" _There had been some muffled thumps, an 'ow!' and some loud swearing, courtesy of Iggy. Fang had taken a moment of relative peace to throw a shoe at the opposite wall, and after a moment, my voice was heard.

"Does this have anything to do with the massacre in the hallway?"

"Maybe!" Fang called back, pushing another shelving thing onto his bead.

"Any explosive activity?"

"Not yet!"

I had taken my time, but eventually had flown out my window to look in Fang's next door. My mouth dropped open. He rolled his eyes, and abandoned pressing against the door for a moment to open the window.

"Max?"

I whirled around, falling off my little mental cloud immediately and brandishing the knife I had been scrubbing. And nearly took Fang's head off, he ducked just in time, holding his hands up.

"Oh. Sorry." I carefully placed the knife on a drying towel and pushed myself to sit on the countertop, looking into his eyes. Infuriatingly, he had grown more, so we were now of the same height. I had to sit on a freaking counter to meet eyes with him. And I couldn't help staring. Black hair fell carelessly in front of his eyes, also dark, dark, black, but with strange flecks of amber. At the moment, they held depth that no ocean could compete with, but they seemed to be blocked, as per usual and more familiar to me than my own. His skin, olive toned but pale, scarred with shallow and barely visible indentations…

"See something you like?"

"What?" I jumped, nearly falling off the counter in the process, but grabbing onto his shoulder until I balanced. "No, of course not you pig. Where're the others?"

"Playing tag. In the woods. Nudge wants us to come." And his eyes, letting down their guard for a millisecond, sparkled with something.

"Well, thank you for freeing me." I grinned, hopping off the counter and grabbing his hand. I was nearly done, anyway, and I'd finish the dishes when I came back in… Or maybe not. I put it out of my mind. You may have noticed that 'doing the dishes' is not on my list of things that tend to occupy my mind.

"Nudge is it!" Ella called out to us, waiting at the edge of the woods and bouncing back and forth in excitement. "And it's hide-and-go-seek tag. She's counting!"

I bolted through the woods as fast and silently as I could, but you see, in Arizona, they just don't really have the woodland opportunities that they do, say in Colorado. Meaning the trees don't provide very much cover. I checked under a fallen log, but Total and Angel were already squished down into the mud, as was Iggy in a hollow tree and Ella, nearly disguised in her brown clothes in a thorn bush.

"Ninety-eight! Ninety-nine! I'm gonna count to one hundred and one because it's like the Dalmations! Just so you know!"

Damn. I sprinted in the opposite direction as Nudge, deeper into the woods where the trees were taller, and did a flying leap into a pine. Quietly, I landed feet first on a large branch, and began scrambling upwards until I reached the very top. As I said, not very much cover and tiny branches, but I hoped the height would provide enough distraction if Nudge even bothered to look…

"You better not ruin my hiding spot."

I could help jumping; darting backwards and slamming into something harder than the air it appeared to be.

"Fang!" I hissed, sliding off the tree branch to now hang like a koala. "Don't _do _that!"

"What?" He whispered, still invisible, and I felt his warm breath on my ear. "Breathe?"

"You know what." I sniffed, flipping back up so my back was against the tree trunk and I was sitting upright. I still couldn't see him, but the hair on the back of my neck prickled, and I had a sudden realization. Slowly, I lifted my hand, palm outward, and reached forward. Within inches from my face, I came into contact with something, and brushed my fingers down between his eyes, along his nose, across his lips, tracing him. He leaned closer, and I held his head carefully between my two hands, feeling his jawbone and working on hand to the back of his neck. Before I could consciously process the thought, I had leaned forward, closed my eyes, and replaced the hand on his lips. My fingers knotted in his tangled hair, and I could feel his doing the same to mine. Somehow, it managed to still look decent when I couldn't remember the last time I had ran a brush through it.

Against my lips, I could feel his face stretch into a grin, and couldn't help doing the same.

"Will this ruin your hiding spot?" I asked him, breaking away momentarily, but keeping my hand on his where his shoulder should be.

He laughed outright and shifted closer to me, sitting side by side on the branch. "Maybe. Does it matter?"

I put my hand on his knee, looking directly in the spot I _knew _his eyes would be in. Smiling, I shook my head. Slowly, with me still staring, the dark eyes slowly began to fade into existence, and a moment later, I was looking at Fang again. Before he could disappear again, I ducked in to quickly peck him on the lips and leaned away again. He smiled softly, meeting my eyes, and just for a moment, letting the guard down so I could look into the only eyes that could make the ocean look shallow.

"Okay? Who wants to be that Max and Fang are hiding together?"

We both started, but remained silent as we listened to what was going on. Iggy had spoken, Nudge must have found him and the others, judging by the number of footsteps.

"Five bucks." Ella announced. "Wait, five cookies. I don't have five bucks."

"Besides, cookies are more valuable." Angel piped up. "In my opinion."

"Do you know where they are?" Gaz asked his sister, yawning. "I don't want to stumble in on them making out or something."

"Do you even know what making out is?" Nudge asked dubiously. "I mean, seriously?"

Iggy and Ella were both laughing loudly at that.

"Do you?" Gazzy retorted, by the sound of it, hitting Nudge. Fang and I looked at each other, and an instant later, he had turned invisible again and flown to another tree. I smiled to myself, holding on to the feeling of his hand in mine… It felt empty now, without anything to hold.

"No." Angel pouted. "Mind blocks, remember? Maybe we could start mouthing off, really bad. You know? Max would explode."

"Yeah, what was that one she absolutely forbade us to ever, ever, ever say?" Gazzy asked loudly while I boiled inside. "Started with an f, didn't it, Angel?"

"Yeah, and had something to do with chickens!"

"No… chickadees."

"Geese!"

"Ducks."

I was gonna kill Iggy, if he didn't die of lack of oxygen as he and Ella collapsed.

"Or we could swear in German." Nudge supplied. "I learned how to. Or in Arabic, Swedish, Polish, or Greek!"

"No," Gazzy said thoughtfully. "I think the duck one should do it, but we still haven't decided on whether they're hiding together, 'cause I really wasn't kidding about what I said earlier…"

I saw Fang peep his head up, and I held up three fingers. Count of one. Then I went down to one finger.

"Have a little faith." He called down, as much as he could with his sore throat.

"We're not _that _perverted." I piped up, flopping down to hang back and forth from my knees. "That's Iggy."

"I mean we may be-" Fang began, mimicking my movement in the opposite tree.

"Immature-" I supplied.

"Compulsive-"

"Lacking in the manners department-"

"Rude-"

"Mentally instable-"

"Tired."

"Obnoxious."

"Infallible-"

"Ooh, good word choice." I laughed. "Uh… crazy?"

"You're the one with a Voice in your head."

"Oh, like you don't have one." I scoffed.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you just don't admit it."

"Of course."

"It's true!"

"You wish."

"Fine." I grumped, swinging back and forth. "You don't have a Voice, but you have dancing unicorns."

"They were eaten."

"But you _had _them."

"Psh."

"You have dragons! After all, they ate the unicorns, correct?"

"Dragons are so much more cooler than a Voice."

"You would know."

"I would."

"Of course, because you're so all-knowing."

"Did I mention we were truthful?"

I threw a pinecone at him. "Yeah. Truthful for bumblebees."

"I refuse to be part insect."

"Fang!" I buried my head in my hands, still swinging back and forth. "How could you?" I wailed. "You're insulting Mr. Bumble!"

"Who's-"

"Don't you ask who Mr. Bumble is!"

"But I-"

"You should know who he is! I mean, a world leader, bumblebee, and my imaginary friend! How could you _not _know who Mr. Bumble is?"

"Lunacy." He rolled his eyes.

"Exactly! So don't you start harping on insects!"

"How can he be a world leader if he's imaginary?"

"That is just the might of Mr. Bumble! He's so…amazing…that…"

"Max." Fang said solemnly. "It would be problematic if you choked."

I couldn't respond I was laughing so hard, couldn't flip myself upwards, so I just dropped to the next branch.

"Are they always this…?"

"Yes." Iggy stated solemnly. "Pray for their souls."

Ella began some sort of chant, a drifting moan passing over notes solemnly and began to sway back and forth, Iggy joined in after a moment, looking just like the priests in the hunchback Disney movie Ella had us watch. _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ I think. And _we _worry _them. _Psh.

**So I have an idea for the next chapter, so hopefully I'll update sooner. Anyway. Back to school! Yeah! Not. Haha, anyways, you guys keep me as sane as one as insane as I am can be… Not that that made any sense whatsoever. **


	37. Tulle and Lace?

**-EDIT-so, in case you guys aren't aware by now, I've been editing some earlier chapters and fixing a few minor spelling/grammar issues and adding some stuff to fit in with the story LATER. So I hope you enjoy the improved version. Thanks, -Ivyflightislistening, April 24, 2011**

**XXXXX**

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

** Wow, so much for a quick update. School began a while ago, but I wasn't that busy. I've been working on a lot of stuff recently, though. Musical, sports, other stories… but I'll try to update at least once a week. **

** Haha, thanks, Maddy! I'm glad you liked it, I definitely did, too. I think I might go back and edit some of the previous stuff for a bit more humor and less mush.**

** Bubbly-chan! Thank you for multiple reviews :D I've read one or two Alex Rider books, been meaning to read the rest but haven't had time. I looked up Alex Pettyfer, I could definitely see him as Iggy!**

** Rainie16-Sorry for the wait, Mr. Bumble had me at gunpoint for talking about him so degradingly :D**

** cleo272-who cares if it's normal? Haha, sorry, I'm a crazy random person like that. **

** LovelyNBlue-thanks!**

** Rose-YES! Gods, I hope that Rob and Kristin aren't chosen for Max and Fang, that's who she wants. Nothing's decided, but… She better not ruin it!**

** Terri-glad you liked it! Thanks and sorry for the wait…**

** fictioncrazy04-love your username! **

** lexigrrl09-haha, yeah I've done that. **

** pinkcatheaven-updaaating!**

** jkb237-ha, thanks!**

** 1910tsuki-yeah, I'm sort of working with first to die, not necessarily in the book. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if that happened March 26****th**** would become a national day of silence day :D And I updated it so now fluff is explained.**

** Again, sorry for the wait, so without further ado…**

** Chapter Thirty-Seven**

Although I sent the younger kids up to bed around nine, Ella, Iggy, Fang and I waited out for mom to come home. Ella was nearly bouncing with excitement to hear about what happened, but about half an hour after I barked at Gazzy to stop bothering Nudge and that no, Total did not have fleas and he could sleep with Angel, I had another apocalypse attack. It wasn't any nicer than the previous one, just more death scenes with birds circling overhead. The four of us were examining and talking them over carefully when mom came home.

"How did-" She began, but then saw the papers strewn across the table and our worried looks and put her purse down to look over my shoulder. On the floor were the last set for comparison.

"My AL teacher said it was Mayan." Ella mentioned casually, completely forgetting her previous curiosity about how the date had gone.

"Which brings us…?"

"Nowhere." I sighed heavily and reached for another cookie. One of the greatest discoveries of the day was that Ella could make cookies almost as well as mom. I think I might kidnap Ella to cook for me on weekends. "How was the date?"

"It wasn't a date." Mom huffed, glaring at me before hanging her coat up in the very closet we had nearly broken earlier. "It was a discussion between friends over dinner, and it was fine, thank you very much."

"Glad to hear it." I grinned, trying to ignore the pictures as Fang swept them up and pushed them under the toaster, face down.

"Has Jeb called?"

That was unexpected. I glanced at Fang, but he didn't know what she was talking about either. By the way she had bounced from subject to subject, I could tell this had been bothering her and decided against a snide comment.

"No. Should he have?"

"I called him earlier, on the way to the date-"

"Ha!"

"Ella." I waved her down with a smile, but mom didn't relax. Something was clearly not right.

"And he said he had to go. I told him to call back around nine, by the sound of it he was in a city and his voice sounded off."

I checked the clock on the microwave. It was nine thirty. We all knew how Jeb was about times, he was always on time. He wrote down on his Crackberry calendar to call people back. Despite myself, I did feel a twinge of worry. Not for Jeb, really, but if something was targeting him, maybe it would target my Flock. He was famous or something in the creepy mad scientist world for helping out in our 'becoming' or some crap like that.

"He probably got stuck in a meeting or something." I covered up my panic with logic. "Plus, he was in a city, right? Maybe he got mugged. I bet if we called him back some druggie will pick up and ask where we live. Then he'll wonder if we want to partake in any drug running with him over the Canadian border."

"Yeah, because girls are above drug running." Iggy snorted. I ignored him.

"He didn't say much, just to stay on alert and not be lulled into a false sense of security. To watch our for yourselves, and watch the movies, and he did… he did say he was sorry." She cleared her throat. "On a lighter note," mom smiled at us, clearly not wanting us to worry. "Or, maybe not, depending on how you look at it, John Abate called. He helped me form the CSM, as you know, but he told me that the governor would like to help us out. Spread the word."

"That's good." I brightened considerably. "Who's the governor? I think we should meet this guy, or send him one of Angel's drawings which are really cute and he could hang on his fridge."

"That's not it." Mom seemed to be watching me, and I felt the 'maybe not' part would be coming up. "He decided there should be a formal gathering of lots of businessmen and women and important people in the government. A party, if you will. One completely devoted to 'going green' to show that people can have a good time without destroying anything while politicians talk about other ways to do so." I had a bad feeling about this and gulped. "So," mom continued. "In a few days, three actually, there's going to be a formal dinner at the statehouse. Everything will be lit by smokeless candles and mirrors, there will be a live band, and I don't know the details. I do however know that it is a suit and dress event and that the governor very much wants you to come. I, ah, spoke to him after I talked with John, and he says speeches or announcements aren't necessary, just knowing that you're there would be an encouragement to everyone, so I think attending would be wise, even if you do not want to go for personal reasons."

She had lost her collected tone at the very end and now looked like I was about to whip her with my belt collection.

I was still processing what she had said.

"Wait." Iggy breathed. "The governor of Arizona wants _us _at a formal thingie?"

"With music." Mom added helpfully. "Dancing. Plenty of food."

"All for climate change?" Ella clarified. "With a ton of snobby adults?"

"Yes and yes, but there will be kids there, too. Relatives to the officials."

"With dresses?" I paled. "Suits?"

Mom smiled slightly. "You would have to wear a dress. If you went." She sighed and patted my shoulder. "It would just be you four, the other three aren't old enough. I'm not telling you to go, but I would like you to consider it and properly think things through before you decide on anything."

I was still sitting sort of slumped in my chair when she went upstairs, Ella trailing after her because she had school the next day.

"So," Iggy said. "I dunno what you guys are thinking, but I think it sounds completely unappealing but we should go anyway."

I looked sharply at him. "_What?_" Okay, so I sounded a little harsh, but I didn't know if I had heard him right.

"I hate the idea of having to wear a collared shirt and nice pants, especially because they never come in cool colors. I hate the idea of having people stick their hands out and wait for me to shake it, and I hate the idea of government officials who think they're all high-and-mighty." He sighed heavily. "But I do think that we need to do it for Dr. M and the CSM, though. And maybe these nuts could see they could have their formalities without wasting a ton of stuff."

"But I'd have to wear a _dress._" None of the other stuff had really reached me yet, although I could see the logic behind what Iggy said, and I didn't like any of the stuff he had talked about, either.

"You could go with Ella to pick one out. And Nudge." Iggy teased me. "Charlotte Russe. Delias. You name it."

"God no." I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

"And then jewelry." He continued. "And shoes. Six inch stilettos. Then you could go to that make-up place I heard Ella telling Nudge about. Sephora, and have professionals do you up. Of course that still leaves your hair-"

"Please stop." I begged. "Don't make this any worse than it already is."

"We wear _suits_." Fang said quietly, saying the word like it was a curse word. Though from the way those seemed to be thrown around, it was said more like a curse word should have been said. "You and Ella wear dresses. Make an appearance. Eat. Clap for the band. Leave while making an impression."

"Quick, easy to remember, my kind of plan." Iggy clapped his hands together. "I just really hope these violinists and harp players and classical crazies know what they're doing because have you ever listened to a bad cello player? I mean, way to bust my ear drums."

"I have to wear a _dress._" I moaned. "I mean, couldn't I at least wear a suit? I'd even wear a pink suit if it made them happy, but no, it will have to be a frilly girly thing with skimpy straps and a huge skirt and Nudge and Angel will be gushing over it and they'll make sure I can't burn it and Iggy, I would so let you blow that up. I mean, it must be better than jeans! More fabric."

"Not really." He concluded with an evil smile. "The tulle and lace is really just a pain and smells bad. Not a good combination."

I banged my head against the table.

"And it probably won't cover up my wings so everyone will be staring and-"

"Talk to Nudge." Fang interrupted quietly. "She'll help you find one if you take her shopping."

I glanced at him, and he almost smiled.

"Since she knows all that, like what the designers are talking about and all, she can help you get the least detestable." He continued. "And you can wear shorts underneath."

"I guess." I groaned and ignored the half eaten cookie in front of me. Suddenly it didn't look so appetizing. "You guys are so lucky you don't have to deal with all this."

Then I stalked upstairs as they both collapsed in laughter. I would so choke them with their stupid ties. How, oh how had I gotten myself shanghaied into this? I made a beeline for the bathroom, because if anything at all would help, it would be a hot shower. And screw it all if I woke anyone up.

"I want this one to have peanut butter, jelly, and fluff!" Angel announced, tugging on my arm as I spread blackberry jelly across some whole wheat bread. I know, I know, eating healthy. No McDonalds? Well, we're on the run most of the time, so we can't be picky, but wheat bread had actually grown on me since trying it at mom's house. Angel already had one just jelly sandwich, one with this marshmallow paste called fluff, one with peanut butter, and now she wanted all three. Meaning between her and her brother, they used up a whole bag of bread. Explaining why we usually got the el cheapo ninety-nine cent stuff. Why were we using up six plus loaves of bread do you ask? Well because the Flock was going on a fieldtrip! To the park! So Total and Akila could chase ducks and Angel and Nudge could kick a soccer ball back and forth and Iggy could beat the school skippers at basketball, of course! Then, since I had informed the others of my decision early that morning, we were headed to *shudder* the mall and meeting my mother there.

Ella already had a decent dress she had worn to a semi-formal, but I had gotten the feeling that she was more excited about picking a dress out for me than for herself, judging by the magazine cutouts I was bombarded with. Mom was picking her up after school so she could come critique our choices and dance in the land of lace. Of course mom was very happy that we decided to go, but she tried not to show it as she left for work. Gazzy had laughed outright at the thought of the boys in suits, and then when Angel said she wanted to help me pick out the dress with Nudge, hadn't been able to breathe. Total was just glad we were being civilized. I wanted to kick him.

"There." I stuffed the eight sandwiches the pair of eight year olds shared into an empty bread bag and put the whole thing in a backpack, right next to the other eighteen. You don't need to go to school to learn math, just hang out with us around lunchtime. Four for each of us, then two for Total. Four times six is twenty four, plus Total was twenty six sandwiches and Akila's dog food. In another backpack, we had a cooler of ice for Fang's throat (though Iggy had snuck it in. The Ring Wraith himself would never allow such a thing as to be cared for. Gah.) Then some individual lemonade thingies. Juice pouches. We were all set in the food department, but Fang brought along the ever present iPod and speakers, too. In my opinion, we were set, but no, of course Nudge had to bring along some magazines to 'educate me' so we could get a good feel of what I was looking for. I was looking for torn jeans and a baggy I LOVE NY t-shirt, but I guess that wasn't acceptable because Nudge hit me when I said so.

"The boys don't get education." I grumped as we took off behind mom's house, taking to the air easily and quickly gaining altitude. I wasn't actually sure of where we were headed, but somewhere with woods and a clearing would be good.

"Suits are easy." Nudge rolled her eyes. "They just have to match. Fang will just wear all black, and Iggy loves color, so he'll make sure his is colorful but not clashing. Easy enough. Do you have any idea how many dress choices are out there? High back or low? Sweetheart neckline, high collar, train or no train, and what kind of skirt?"

"What the h-e-double toothpicks is a sweetheart neckline?" I asked, chucking the magazine she had handed me and making her dive for it. She caught it easily, and swooped back with a glare.

"If you read this you'd find out!"

"Shoes." Angel piped up. "I so get to pick those out."

"Sleeve length." Nudge added immediately. "Do you have a preference?"

"I think she should go sleeveless." Said Angel, smiling. "You're so pretty Max."

"Angel! Nudge! I swear to God I will duct tape your little mouths shut if you ask me one more question about these freaking dresses and talk about… appearances!"

"Don't give her a heart attack." Iggy warned, trying to mask his laughter with a cough.

"I thought you said you had shoes picked out?" Gazzy reminded me helpfully, smiling sympathetically.

"Thank you." I ruffled his hair with a grin. "And yes, I do."

"What-"

"Ella's black flat shoes."

"But those are so boring!" Nudge protested, glaring at me. "I mean, heels! You have great legs, you should wear heels! You could so totally pull them off, you can't wear _those! _I mean, yeah, they're cute, but you need something stupendous, something classy, something out of this world, something-"

"And the dress will be modest and completely cover my back. A jacket would be nice, too, to cover up any stray feathers-"

"But-"

"No jewelry or make up," I was on a roll, despite the fact that each word I said seemed to carve Nudge and Angel hearts out. I averted their eyes; the infamous Bambi eyes would NOT draw me in. "No lace, tulle, or an extra BS. No bright colors. Probably black, because white would show my wings-"

"Your wings are so _pretty!_" Angel squealed, putting her hands in a prayer gesture. "Pleasepleaseprettyplease? Black is so… Fang! I mean, he's always thinking you wings are-oh, sorry."

I blushed furiously, trying to hide it and failing miserably as Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge had to stop midair and lose a few feet of altitude due to the fact that they couldn't breathe through their laughter.

"You two lovebirds." Total sighed. "But if we have to go through with this for my wedding, I almost want to skip the whole thing."

"What are Max's wings, Fang?" Iggy lost another ten feet as Fang kicked him. "Brown? Mottled? Eagle-like? Or, as Angel so put it, _pretty_? That was my face! You're going to make me drop Akila!"

"Guys!" I nearly had to shout, and flew around our close group twice to grab their attention. "Landing! Fang, kill Iggy once we get to the ground. Gaz, man, gotta breathe. Angel, Nudge, you can pick out my dress if it follows those guidelines-"

"There'll be nothing to pick." Nudge grumped as we angled downward. "Clothes Nazi."

"Maybe dark blue." I allowed after a moment before touching down. "Or dark green."

"How about silver?"

"No." I gritted my teeth, trying to keep from tearing Angel's angelic little head off her body.

"But-"

"I said _no._"

The tone of my voice ended discussion on the matter for a while, and I thanked whatever gods may be for that, in the least. Despite the heat, though, I shouldered my jacket and folded up my wings. I didn't know if I wanted to hear exactly what Fang thought about my wings, but I felt a little self-conscious of them, then. A little happy, too, though. Just a little.

"Pond up ahead!" Gazzy bounced, not even minding the heavy backpack on his shoulders. "Race ya there!"

I kept looking out at the water, about every five minutes or so. Angel had been under a while, but when I'd least expect it, she'd pop out, happy and cheerful as ever. Therefore, my suspicions about a Lake Ness Monster or Atlantis were clearly all fantasy, but still…

_I'm _fine, _Max. _Angel called irritably. _But the fish say 'hi.'_

I sighed, not bothering to reply and got to my feet.

"Max!" I turned toward where Gazzy and Nudge were squaring up against Fang and Iggy in a somewhat clear area, a soccer ball at their feet. "Come join our team and stop worrying about Angel!" Gazzy touched the ball with his toe. "We're losing."

I grinned as I walked over and took a ready position on Nudge and the Gasman's side. There were rough goals on either side of the clearing, and if Fang or Iggy didn't mow me over before I got there, I was pretty sure I could get a goal once I got halfway to the other side. That was a pretty big 'if,' though.

Gazzy passed the ball to me, and though none of us have ever been on a soccer team in our life, we're all pretty good. Genetically enhanced, good hand-eye coordination, enhanced sight, it all helps. I tried to dribble away from Iggy, who streaked toward me like a bullet, but ended up passing it to Nudge, who was promptly tripped by Fang.

"Hey!" She squeaked on her hands and knees. Without pause, she rammed the ball with her head toward Gazzy, who intercepted and passed to me. "Foul!" Nudge was still yelling. "You're not allowed to trip people! No!" Iggy caught the ball off my toe, so she did the only logical thing and tackled him, trying to grab the ball to throw at me.

"Talk about fouls." Iggy spat dirt out of his mouth, but the ball was squished underneath him and Nudge, and she was still trying to get at it while Gazzy tried to push Ig to the other side and Fang waited patiently nearby. I hung back, and as soon as Gazzy had the ball with Iggy pinned under Nudge, I leapt at Fang.

He had been about to snatch the ball away from Gazzy, but it's kind of hard when someone slams into you, causing the pair of human/avian crosses to slide across the mud in a mess of torn up grass. Easily, Gaz scored and did a victory lap around the field while the four of us got up slowly.

"Ah." I twisted around, stretching my back muscles. "Think I pulled something there."

Fang snorted, cracking his knuckles and testing his ankle warily. One whole side of his face was covered in dirt, and his clothes weren't much better. His hair, spiked with mud and grass, looked like a hedgehog's nest. Laughing quietly to myself, I began to pick at the chunks.

"Way to go." I told him. "We'll never be able to go shopping like this!" Yet, for some bizarre reason, I did not sound put out in the slightest.

"Because that was completely my fault."

"You could have let Gazzy score." I pulled a stick from his hair, enjoying the half amused expression on his face. I turned, checking the lake again. There was Angel. Phew.

"And as for you," I heard Fang snarl at Iggy, who was laughing over something with Nudge. "You should have blocked that."

"What?" Iggy whipped toward us, furious. "It's a game, Fang! I was on the ground, if you didn't effing _notice-_"

"I didn't say anything!" Fang turned on his heel, locking eyes uselessly with the tall blonde.

"Gazzy." I cautioned, watching the eight-year-old roll on the ground in hysterics as the two older boys slowly realized what had happened and turned to look at him. "What have I told you about-"

"Not causing extra angst among Flock members because it's rude and we have enough issues without killing each other." He imitated me pitch-perfectly, down to the patronizing tone and glare. "But you don't yell at Fang for going invisible or Iggy for feeling colors!" He was back in his old voice, and playing with me. I sighed heavily.

"That's because I generally can hit into Fang whatever I can't get through his thick skull and I'm glad that Iggy can feel colors. Kudos for him. Go swim and get some of that dirt off of you."

"You're twice as dirty as I am!"

Rolling my eyes, I darted forward and scooped him up and over my shoulder like a sack and began to walk toward the water's edge.

"Max! No!" He pounded my back between giggles. "Put me _down! _Please! It'll be cold and, no, don't put me down here! No! I was kidding!"

I dangled him above the water, upside down. "You were kidding?"

"Uh huh!" He begged, swinging side to side. "Please! I was-"

"Iggy, don't even try to push me in." I interrupted coldly, whipping around before Iggy could get a step closer. He looked disappointed. I turned back to Gazzy, taking a step closer to the edge of the slippery dock. It was old, and I didn't honestly trust it to hold any more weight, so I hoped Nudge and Fang had the wisdom to stay back. However, just as a tip for future reference, old docks are often mossy and untrustworthy. Especially when rather rambunctious kids have been diving around nearby. The wood just might be incredibly slippery, so when the kid you're dangling rocks violently, your foot sort of slips over the edge, and then you grab onto the blind kid that just happens to be standing close by, but he's not expecting it, so he is dragged forward in a mass of tumbling birdkid and a huge splash.

Just to warn you.

I surfaced, coughing to clear the water from my lungs. Iggy was already treading water calmly and looked as if he was thinking about how my head would look on a stake.

"That was so priceless, guys!" Nudge doubled over in hysterics, actually pounding the dirt with her fist. "I mean, Iggy, if only you could have seen your face!"

"I was sorta expecting it." Gazzy spat some water between his front teeth at me. "You would have dropped me anyway."

"Probably." I allowed, ruffling the blonde hair plastered to his head. "At least it's sunny."

"Yeah, we're in Arizona, Max." Iggy rolled his eyes and began to swim towards the shore.

"I noticed." I said darkly before ducking under the water to rub some of the dirt off of my skin and hair. Five minutes later, I was mostly successful and kicked through the water back towards the dock. Shivering despite the heat, I pulled myself up and over to where everyone was gathered by our packs.

"Glad you could join us." Nudge tossed me a sandwich and a towel, and I quickly settled down into the sun. On my right, Fang was alternating chewing peanut butter sandwiches and ice cubes and playing hang man with Gazzy. Nudge had been working on helping him with his letters after she had gone to the Day and Night school, so he could now read basic words. So far he had _D _ A _ ON_, Gazzy had rather liked mythical creatures ever since Ella showed him some of her old illustrated books. Angel left Iggy's side (handing out sandwiches and juice pouches) and brought over some crayons and paper, followed by Nudge and her insufferable magazines.

"See, Max?" She pushed one of the slightly crumpled drawings at me. "I was thinking about your guidelines for your outfit, so I designed a special Max Dress. Nudge helped."

I took the paper, righted and smoothed it, and looked. There was a stick figure (a croquis, Nudge called it, a model for designs) with black, flat smudges for shoes. The dress was basic, a dark blue color that ruffled from the waist to the bottom, known as a mermaid train, according to the girls, and nearly covered the black shoes and sleeves that reminded me of the long, elegant ones that the elves wore in my new all-time favorite movies, _Lord of the Rings. _I still needed to thank Ella properly for enlightening me to their amazingness. It wasn't _too _bad. The skirt would allow me to wear jean cut-offs underneath without anyone being the wiser, and maybe I could just pretend to be Arwen all night. But I doubted we'd find anything like that at Mesa Mall.

"See," Nudge pointed to the skirt. "It's long, we thought you would like that, and it's modest, but figure hugging so you'll still be a bombshell. Plus, Angel thought you might not mind as much if you look like an elf. We had to ask Fang what the elves look like in those ring movies you like, because that was Angel's idea, since you love them so much. We knew they wore dresses, and he gave us enough information for this. The ruffles provide a modern twist, but then we thought we could do two tiny braids in your hair and pull them together in back for a little crown-y thing." Nudge demonstrated, pulling some long chunks back. "What do you think?"

"You asked _Fang. _For dress input?" I looked at him, incredulous.

"They asked what elves wore." He rolled his eyes and drained his lemonade.

"It doesn't look too terrible," Gazzy peeked over my shoulder. "Not like something some girl on MTV would wear. Or London Hilton."

"Paris Hilton." Nudge corrected, but she was grinning ear to ear with pleasure. But then, after my lack of comment, she seemed a bit discouraged. "I mean, if the elf thing is too much for you, we don't have to do the hair, and this is just a rough copy thing. They might not even have anything like this in stores; I bet you'd have to go to Middle Earth Suppliers Inc. for it-"

I clamped my hand over her mouth and smiled at her. "No, Nudge. It's probably the best dress I'll ever have to wear. And the only one. But it's best for the only. Thank you."

Nudge and Angel beamed.


	38. Hit Me

**-EDIT-so, in case you guys aren't aware by now, I've been editing some earlier chapters and fixing a few minor spelling/grammar issues and adding some stuff to fit in with the story LATER. So I hope you enjoy the improved version. Thanks, -Ivyflightislistening, April 24, 2011**

**XXXXX**

** Bubbley-chan! I love it how much you review, it's great. Feel free to suggest anything you'd like, I'll pay attention.**

** girlyoudontknow-I LOVE fireflies by Owl City! Haha that would've been great.**

** Charlie Ride-thank you! That means a lot.**

** Wolfen91-Sorry for the wait… but thanks anyway!**

** Fhhfhjtb-yes… and I'm sorry for that-here's the next chapter!**

** MaxRideRox-sorry for the wait, but thank you!**

_**For Narnia!**_

__**Haha, my soccer team did that for a cheer today, it was fantastic.**

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**Note: link for the dress that was the inspiration for Max's can be found on my profile under the story info section.**

As I suspected, we never found a _Lord of the Rings dress. _However, despite having to model dresses for an hour before we decided on one, bought it, and met up with mom and the boys, I was relatively happy with the events of the day. As Nudge had predicted, we hadn't found a dress anywhere close to the one she had drawn, but I had chosen the simplest one I could find. Originally I had been going for a basic long black dress that covered me and had what Nudge described as a "mermaid skirt" but it was tough to run in, so I went with my second choice. It was the color of the sky right before, a dark blue, and ended just above my knees. It was wrapped a little too tightly along my torso, making me seem… girly, I guess. As in, actually possessive of a few curves here and there, and a waist. Needless to say, Ella and the girls were thrilled. It also had no shoulder straps. The last six inches flared out in a little fan, and I had avoided look in mirrors while wearing it. However, it won out because of the lack of sparkles and shine and I could run in it. Needless to say, the attendants in the dressing room were a little confused. We met up with the boys and we all joined together under the unspoken rule that we would not mention the events that we had experienced that day.

"We're back!" I called as I began to empty the remaining contents of our cooler (mostly empty juice pouches), and mom, home before Ella what with lacrosse practice and everything, hurried in from outside. She had some fresh carrots in one hands, the perfect shade of orange, if a little dirt smudged. The girls immediately ran over to her, describing in complete detail the day's events, accentuating exactly how pretty I looked in my dress. Blushing, I hurried out of the cramped kitchen and into Iggy.

"Last I checked," he said mildly, picking himself up off the floor. "I was the blind kid."

"I'm surprised you didn't hear me coming." I retorted, rubbing my arm.  
"Where are you hurrying off to?"

He shrugged, tres casuale. "Meeting Ella at practice. She's walking home, thought I'd join her." Though his face was a calm mask, I caught a small flicker in his eyes. "Do you think she'll mind?" Now I detected a bit off worry in his tone-he wasn't thinking about the bullies, but that she wanted to walk home alone. I grinned.

"'Course not. You're friends, right? That's what friends do. Do you want…?"

"Angel's coming."

"Oh." I shifted to the side to step around him, just as he did, then to the others side, and impatiently put my hands on his shoulders and rotated him in the narrow hall. "There."

He smiled, but just as I had gotten free of the bird mess in the hall, I tripped over Total, landing face first on the not-so-soft carpet.

"Total!" I snarled at the same time that he barked my name, none to happy.

"Max," Nudge looked on from the kitchen door. "Do you think this means you're expiring?" She snickered. "I mean, being genetically enhanced and all-"

"Oh hush." I snapped, but couldn't help the uncomfortable prickle on the back of my neck. Quickly, before there could be any more obstructions in the hall, I hurried out the front door. Granted, that didn't keep me from hearing Total's shouted profanities about being treated degradingly. I really think he needs his own Oprah episode, if anyone can help him can to terms with his being a dog, Oprah can. I mean, he's _marrying-_

"Total," I turned in the doorway, planting a sickly sweet smile on my face. He spun around to face me, spitting in fury.

"You heard, then, did you?" He accused me. "You wouldn't trip over Angel! You wouldn't trip over Nudge! Are you really so insulting as to call me a 'dog' and stamp me even further into the ground?"

"Are you saying you're not a dog?" My eyebrows knit in mock confusion. "Because, just for future reference, inter-species marriage is illegal."

"Max," Angel wandered up to me and tugged on my arm. I glanced away from the newest set of demon brain-attack pictures that I had set up in mom's room across her bed. I had spent the last hour trying to figure something, anything, out that would help me, to no avail. Meanwhile, Iggy had been teaching Fang and Ella how to make Eggplant Parmesan for dinner, and Gaz, Nudge, and said blonde cherub had gotten into a bleach fight. Thanks to them, my brain was to fried to figure out anything from the drawings even if it was written out in plain English. Not to mention my formerly dark blue shirt changing to a tie-dyed sky blue bleach mess. Mom and I had nearly yelled ourselves hoarse after that incident.

Needless to say, I was not that happy with her.

"Celeste," she held up the bleach-stained teddy bear in her other hand. "Nudge, Gazzy, and I want to play charades. Ella said she'd play, and made Iggy play too. Fang just looked at me with that…" She raised her eyebrows, her eyes completely blank but still managing to master the 'you want me to play charades? Yeah, no,' face, typical of Fang. "Look. You know? But then I said I would make sure he got stuck in my next bleach fight and he agreed."

"So it's just me." I turned my eyes back to the drawings until she tugged my arm again.

"Fine." I grumbled, getting up off the rumpled bed. "Charades, of all things." I muttered to myself. "How do you even _play _charades? I bet it has something to do with cards and complex directions in Spanish…"

"Max, save the muttering for near-death situations." Iggy reminded me as I took my place beside the others outside. Dusk was falling by now, but six hyperactive mutants and one only slightly less hyperactive human stuck indoors is a recipe for disaster. The bleach fight had been enough for me. "You'll wear yourself out."

"I'm already worn out." I grumped. "How do you even play charades?"

"It's easy, Max." Ella assured me with a grin. "You pick a card, then because we lost the board and directions ages ago, you choose your favorite word. See?" She held up a card with six words on one side.

Bathroom.

Bungee Jumping.

Skateboarding.

Michael Jackson.

Dog.

Filmmaker.

"So if it were my turn," she explained after I had interrupted her with "I knew there were cards!" "I would choose a word, then act it out. You would all have to guess what it was, and you get a point each time you get it right. Technically, you're not supposed to talk, but it's more fun if you do. If the words are crap," she shrugged. "Make up your own, it just has to be something we would all know."

"I know I don't only speak for myself when I say that I suck at acting." I pulled a face, sharing a kill-me-now look with Fang.

"I wanna go first!" Gazzy exclaimed. "Here, Ella, give me the card basket-wait, never mind! I've got one!" He jumped around, looking at the rest of us with eight-year-old excitement. "Okay," he unfolded his wings dramatically. Then, he proceeded to strut around the circle with his arms crossed.

After a few moments, he turned and stomped his foot, then he opened his mouth and began a pitch-perfect imitation of me.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't _care _how awesome it looks when you mix hydrogen peroxide with ammonium and sulfur! I care about cookies and practicing my spitting techniques for whenever I next see Jeb." Then, he froze, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights, leaving us all cracking up, but completely confused. Suddenly he jumped to the side, mimicked Iggy's voice for a second and said, "Max?" Then he jumped back to where he had been a moment before, and waved the imaginary Iggy away. "Don't worry, it's just the Voice! It says we should all be good little children for the government, so I mentally flicked it off!"

Even Fang, who as you all know is Mr. Personality, was reduced to maniacal laughter by the end of Gazzy's little rant. Nudge jumped up, begging for her own turn once we finally settled down, and chose a card.

She held up one finger, provoking the conclusion that it was one word. Then, she pointed to herself, jabbing her finger at her chest a few times. Fang explained to Iggy what she was doing with a knit brow, trying to figure out what she meant. Pursing her lips, Nudge then mimicked holding two things and pouring the one into the other.

"Lemonade? Drinking something? Pouring juice?" Gazzy guessed, making her shake her head, then turn to pretend to write something down.

"You're pouring lemonade then writing a confession that you drank it all." Said Angel. "That's it-no? Darnit."

"What am I?" Nudge demanded, jumping up and down in irritation as it still remained that none of us could guess. "What are Max and Fang and Iggy and Gazzy and Angel and Total?"

"Crazy." Ella summed up with a grin. "You're depicting a crazy person!"

"Very funny." I punched her lightly, but just to be sure, glanced at Nudge, who shook her head.

"Part bird? Avian? Zoologist? Raptors?" I reeled off, trying to think of something that connected the seven of us. "Mutant? Flock? Gaggle? Murder?"

"Murder?"

"Of crows. Pride of lions. Sleuth of bears."

"C'mon!" Nudge badgered us. "What do scientists do? What's always associated with them?"

"White coats." Fang guessed dryly. "Being up there in the age department."

"You can't do aging." I reminded him.

"Nor can you do 'part bird.'" He shot back. "Murder works though."

"Meaning I need to find some cuffs?" I glanced sharply at him. " Just what are you implying, young man?"

"Cuffs would probably be sensible." Laughed Iggy. "In Fang's case, anyway. And a straightjacket."

"Experiment!" Ella declared triumphantly. "Scientists experiment on things! Right? That has to be it!"

Nudge clapped wildly as if Ella had just won the lottery, and I mentally berated myself for not realizing something as easy as 'experiment.' In the meantime, Ella picked a card from the box, frowned slightly, then ran up to the side of the house. Catching our eyes, she hit it multiple times.

"Losing brain cells." Fang smirked. She shook her head, and pointed to the street. After a few more moments of our failure, she jumped up with irritation, alternating between pointing at the road and the wall.

"It's really bad right now!"

"Wall Street." I rolled my eyes, remembering mom's newspapers she left lying around. I was completely kidding, of course, but to my extreme amazement, she ran over and tackled me with the excitement that I had gotten it.

"Seriously?" Iggy raised his eyebrows. "Wall Street? Isn't that, like, the economy or something?"

"I dunno." Gazzy grumped. "I think it has to be something we all know."

"Sorta," Ella nodded, releasing me from her grip. "But it is bad, isn't it?"

"Do I actually have to go?" I whined, not worried so much about the economy, but at the more pressing problem being that I couldn't act whatsoever and I didn't need any help making a fool of myself. Luckily, I was saved by mom calling us in for dinner (much to the disappointment of Nudge) and I was gone before she had the chance to make me sing a Michael Jackson song or something.

"MAXIMUM RIDE YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT, YOUNG LADY!"

"I'm older than you!" I hollered back to Nudge, crossing her arms in mom's bedroom doorway. There was a foreboding makeup kit in one hand and a fistful of elastics in the other. Just as long as it wasn't a fistful of my hair. The days had passed much too quickly for my liking, and everyone in the house but the youngest three were prepping for our wonderful government party-thingie. I flung myself over the banister, sliding down the railing and tumbling to a halt just short of the wall.

_Note to self: No aerobics in dresses._

"I haven't even finished your hair!"

"It's fine!" I hollered, picking up my black flats and hurrying into the kitchen. I nearly rammed into Iggy, who was tugging uncomfortably at his collared shirt and standing alone in the kitchen. Maybe mom had ostracized him for our safety-just glimpsing the bright colors of his dress clothes nearly blinded me.

"You're looking spiffy." I congratulated him, praying he couldn't hear the rustle of the silky fabric. No such luck. I swear the rustle of my knee-length skirt made his day.

"You know what, Max? I would pay to see Fang's face when he sees you, in a _dress. _Poor lovestruck-"

I gave his collar a good yank. "Hey!" He yelped, darting away and brushing at the electric blue top. "Watch the fabric. Dr. M helped me pick this out, and it even goes with my pants. Can you believe it?"

"Not really." Seeing as he must have gotten that outfit at Clowns and Sons Clothing Corporation. "But Fang had better not comment on this," I curled my lip. "Getup, if he wishes to keep his tongue."

Wisely, Iggy changed the subject. "What'd Nudge wrangle you into? I don't smell any makeup, and you haven't gone on any killing rampages yet so it can't be that racy."

"I'm wearing a, I'm not even kidding, "Fancy Ponytail" according to Nudge. I feel like I'm carrying a stack of books."

"Girls used to have to do that to improve their postures." Ella glided into the kitchen, walking gracefully in the heels that raised her height a good three inches so she was at least five foot one. She hated being short. She also managed to remove curlers from her hair and bat the curls around while walking like a runway model. Talented girl. Her dress, a stunning light purple was added just another color to the spectrum that Iggy and I provided (I the darker part of the rainbow, dark blues) and he the rest of it. She eyed me up and down, from my slightly curly hair to the tips of my bare feet. I hid the shoes behind my back.

"What?" I practically snarled, but she just grinned. That is not usually the reaction I tried to get from my Threatening Voice Repertoire.

"Oh, I just can't _wait _until Fang gets a look at you. Though you better put the shoes and mom's gift on before he does, otherwise the look won't be complete."

What? "She got me a gift?" I asked, verging on hysterics and grabbing at Ella's bracelet'd arms. "But she already bought this stupid dress and whatever the boys are wearing and-"

"Max, chill. It's just a necklace of hers. The ladies in our family sort of share it. I didn't think you'd have a problem with giving it back at the end of tonight."

Crisis averted. I exhaled and pulled away, turning to see mom coming through the door. She smiled at me, and I wondered how I was related to his woman. She looked like the essence of elegant in a classy black dress with her hair up and a little makeup accentuating her coffee colored eyes. How was I related to her, again? I let her take my hands.

"I must say, this is a different look for you," she teased, knowing exactly how it would push my buttons. Ella giggled. "But I have something for you."

I allowed her to reach around my neck, a very uncomfortable experience, and clasp a necklace beneath my hair. I fingered it, looking at the orblike pearls. It probably would have suited mom's dress more than my own, because it was so eye catching. Why, again, did I agree to this?

"And then I have ties for the boys," she said, turning to Ig to hand him what I swear was the most ridiculous tie that has and will ever be created. Koi fish swam across the fabric, with glitter on their scales. Iggy practically died of happiness just brushing his fingers across it. "Fang! Stop dawdling."

I could hear his very soft footsteps on the stairs, only audible because of what I assumed were some fancy new shoes. "I'm not dawdling," he called, voice drawing steadily closer. "Just trying to figure out who invented shirts with so many buttons and wondering if they have a security system installed in their homes."

"Oh, don't complain. Just be glad they _had_ black dress shirts. I can't even believe I got yours and Iggy's at the same store."

I figured this was about reason number 1,892,037 on Fang's list of things to be glad about. Thanks to his powers, he was hardly visible in the dark hallway until he took a step inside the kitchen, brightly lit. As I suspected, black dress shirt and pants, black dress shoes, and a black tie offered by my mother. He gave the thing a look that said _No way in hell_, but when she offered to tie it, grudgingly nodded.

"Does anyone else know how to tie one of these?" Iggy fingered his tie nervously as it loosened once again with the lightest touch. He had tried. And failed. Shaking her head, Ella pounced and quickly tied it with expert speed. I had to hide a smirk as it left Iggy blushing. He wasn't quite as smooth as he thought now, was he?

"I still think you should have worn a bowtie." Fang reminded him, as he tugged his necktie a little loser, still looking at his shiny shoes. Shoes that would be soon growing mold in a trashcan somewhere right next to my dress.

"You wear a bowtie, then!" Iggy snapped, not noticing the glare sent his way through messy black hair.

"I'll wear the bowtie." I offered. "Iggy can wear the dress and Fang the shoes, then Nudge can divide her makeup between you two." I was a bit surprised when Fang refrained from his usual response to a comment like this-a cold glare-and he instead bent to retie his shoes. At least Ella and mom appreciated my wit as the latter hustled us outside and toward the car.

I'm not going to bore you to tears (I nearly was) at the introductions, the comments on how mature we looked, the insufferable adults, or the interesting aroma from all the candles. After dessert (never, ever before) I managed to escape some clingy bureau guys and hurry across the slightly damp lawn. I caught sight of Ella and Iggy chatting quietly in a corner as the party began to meld into a dance. Not that the musicians weren't fabulous… but it was a _dance. _Need I say more?

Cursing the unbearable dress, I slipped the flats off and flopped down in the pine needles in a safe refuge of a clump of trees near the back of the park that the party was taking place. A violinist or something with strings was picking their way through a slow, mournful tune with occasional accompaniment from a piano. I sighed heavily, wondering just how long these things were supposed to be and how awkward it would be if I let my wings down, which until now had fitted somewhat comfortably under a light jacket. To heck with it. I took it off and tossed it to the ground.

"Please don't start muttering to yourself." I leaped to my feet somewhat clumsily and thanks to el Dress from Hell collapsed forward into someone.

"Damn it, Fang!" I huffed as he pushed me away quickly and disappeared into the shadows again. "Don't _do _that!"

"What?" He was looking away again, avoiding my eyes. "Make a simple request so you seem sane to anyone else that also may stumble over here? Besides, I was here first."

At a loss for words, I proved my feminine side by snarling, at a loss for words. This did, however, earn a lip twitch from Mr. Dark and Silent, still avoiding me and leaning against another tree. Ready to huff off in the opposite direction, I took another step, and yet again found myself falling… and getting caught by hard arms.

"Don't you dare laugh." I attempted to find my footing while Fang let me borrow one arm to balance on. I was really thankful that Ella had let me borrow some black spandex, these sort of bathing suit-material shorts that you wear under shorts or skirts incase the wind is a little frisky or you're afraid of someone taking a peek. Or, in my case, excessive falling. "I'll stick you in one of these things, if I can't get a state representative in one first."

"They were bothering you, too?"

I glanced at him, but he was obviously trying to not look directly at my face, which was a bit… odd. I nodded stiffly, refusing any other comment.

"Can't believe I agreed to this." I muttered, mostly to myself as Fang helped me towards where the grass began and it was easier to walk. "Just another pointless endeavor that wasn't necessary-"

"It was nice that you allowed Nudge to play dress up." I nearly tripped again at the surprise that was Fang's comment.

"Yes." I snapped. "But-"

"You…" He spun me around to face him, me looking towards the dim lights in the distance, giving his dark frame only an outline. For the first time all evening, he met my eyes, expression soft. But the words seemed to stick in his throat, which was unusual, when he decided to speak.

"You look b-very pretty." He decided on, finishing in a rush. Then he seemed to realize what he had just admitted to and he seemed to wish he could rip the words back. "I, well, not that you normally aren't pretty, it's just different, pretty… Wow, I'm rambling. I'm pulling a Nudge. This is incredibly out of character and I think I'm going to stop now if you're not completely scared away. As per usual. Right. Quieting now."

'Out of character' pretty much summed it up.

For a moment, I felt a flash of annoyance. I wasn't Pretty Max or Feminine Max. I was Leader Max. Kick Butt to Help Her Family Max. Clothes, makeup, parties… these weren't my things. My brain gradually seemed to absorb exactly what he had said, though, and I didn't speak for a moment, all the while Fang was blinking excessively and looking anywhere but me.

I tried to find words, words for what was in truth so powerful a comment coming from Fang that I feel warm. If I was honest with myself, I realized I didn't mind so much when Fang called me 'pretty' just as I didn't mind when he touched my wings or sat closer than other people normally would.

I decided on a quick "thanks." Then I grinned at him, leaning forward to wrap my arms around his tall frame in a hug. My chin resting on his chest, I looked up at him. He hadn't moved at all, probably still getting over exactly what he had said.

"You know," I said quietly. "There're scarier things than you pulling a Nudge. Don't sweat it."

"Would dancing be scarier?" He asked softly, cupping my chin in one hand as he moved closer, if a bit hesitantly.

"…Yeah."

"Don't sweat it." He repeated my words, whispering them in my ear. "You're brave."

"I don't know how." I protested even as he took my hands in his and place them around his neck.

"Neither do I…but I think it goes something like this." His hands rested on my waist, and almost without effort, we began to sway in time to the soft melody coming from the party far away. At that moment, it seemed light years away, and even as the song ended we didn't stop. It was almost… peaceful. Just Fang and I. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as much as the music. I felt him kiss the crown of my head, slightly exasperated with the effect this had on me.

Crazy hormonal teenager.

Crazy hormonal teenager with two left feet, consequently tripping over only other slightly less crazy but just as hormonal (I'd bet) teenager in the proximity.

"Thanks." I offered again as he caught me.

"Really, I don't think dresses are your thing."

"I agree. Ella can keep 'em."

As much as I wanted to get out of the dress, to throw it away and stamp on it after making the designer walk around in it (in front of People magazine) I couldn't help but still feel a little pride with Fang's comment.

For the first time in my life, I felt beautiful. Really, sort of like a star, and it wasn't half-bad.

"Well." I announced as I plopped down on the ground again after the song ended. "That wasn't too scary."

Fang just glanced at me, pulled the ponytail holder out of my hair so it fell down naturally around my ears as he leaned in to kiss me. Once I broke away, gasping for air, I grinned at him.

"As fantastic as this is, hit me if I ever agree to something like this again."

Fang flopped over on his back, looking up at the sky and smirked.

"No problem."


	39. Going

**Chapter Thirty-Nine**

**Haha! My update was sooo much faster this time, granted, forty might not be so quick and by then I might be on a few hit lists. You'll see by the end of the chapter.**

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"He shouldn't be out flying," Dr. Martinez frowned, holding the napkin in her hands tightly. "Really he shouldn't."

"Why?" Nudge piped up, jumping up from her seat at the breakfast table and leaning around my mom. "Who's flying?"

Dr. M pushed the napkin at the bouncing girl who read it over quickly and looked back up at the doctor, repeating her question of 'why?'

I had already seen it, I already knew who was out flying, and I knew why mom didn't think he should be. But it really wasn't a question of whether Fang should be out flying or not, because he was long gone when we had come downstairs that morning.

_Flying._

_-Fang._

The note had consisted of two words, offering no explanation or reasoning, and I just had to assume that he wanted to, which wasn't unheard of. Some people wake up to run, some people wake up to watch TV and divulge in some chocolates. Fang wakes up and flies.

"He was coughing violently when we got home last night." Mom pursed her lips. "I gave him an extra dose of medicine, but it should have worn off by now with his metabolism."

"Maybe he had some more." I offered. "This morning. He woke me up at about three-"

"He's been out since _three?_"Mom turned to me, furious, as if this was my fault. I shook my head.

"Nah, that was just for some more medicine. He actually left at about four."

For some reason, this didn't calm her down whatsoever and caused her to round on Iggy when he snorted.

"Don't worry, Dr. M." Angel assured her sweetly, grabbing onto her arm and tugging it like she did when she wanted me to do something for her. It put mom in close proximity to Angel's own set of Bambi eyes and cherub face. "Fang can take care of himself, and he's always fine. I'd bet he brings back a baby bird with a broken wing. He did that one time back at our old house and wouldn't let Jeb bind it up because he never trusted Jeb, so Iggy did it for him. Nudge named him Blackie, and according to Jeb, Blackie was some sort of raptor, but he stayed with us for years until he died."

"Blackie?" Mom eyed me as if confirming this story.

"Yup." I took another bite of cereal. "She tore up my pillow for a nest, and some of Angel's stuffed animals, and quite a few issues of _Car and Driver._"

"You aren't miffed in the slightest that he didn't tell you?"

I glanced at mom over another set of horror pictures I had recorded at about seven this morning. "He did. Sort of."

"Psycho maniacs." Total muttered under the table, where Akila lay grooming his fur. Magnolia was currently MIA, or in other words, sleeping on Ella's bed. You guys are nearly as cool as Angel."

"Thanks." I muttered coldly as Iggy and the Gasman roared in laughter. "I'm gonna be nearly as cool elsewhere while making myself useful." I placed my bowl in the dishwasher, grabbed the steadily growing stack of papers with not-so-wonderful illustrations, and headed to the living room. This recent set hadn't been any better than the supposed predictions before, if anything they were worse. Quickly, I threw the next tape into the VCR and flopped down onto the couch. I would sit through this one. I would. I had a job to do.

"Get up." A short but burly whitecoat kicked one of us, presumably Nudge but it was hard to tell with the pixilated screen. This tape wasn't in as good condition as some of the rest, and already a headache was developing. The whitecoat kicked her again, and a soft moan escaped her as she cowered in a pool of what I could only assume was blood. Already I felt sick to my stomach. Nudge was obviously dying, and only by listening to her chatty voice in the other room could I not manage to skip this part.

"I said _get up!"_

He raised a walkie-talkie to his lips, ready to call in backup to execute the dirty work, but froze and dropped it almost immediately. There was a moment when he scurried for it, and suddenly he was speaking.

"Code Red, I repeat _Code Red. _Gunshots, Phelps, get down here now! Sector Seven, Arena Three. Escaped experiment assumed. Bring help."

But you have to remember this was a man trained for chemical levels and DNA unraveling, he had absolutely no experience with action, aside for the punishment of his experiments. Gradually, my ears were able to pick up the faint crack of a gun as it grew closer, and to my satisfaction, the man began to shake.

He then proceeded to make faint whining noises as the doors burst open and a dark shape burst into the room. It hesitated, shaking dark hair out of darker eyes, then focused on Nudge. I could nearly hear Fang absorbing the situation, and then he launched himself at the whitecoat.

_"What did you do to her?" _He snarled into the man's face.

"Get off me, mutant!"

Fang tightened his fingers around the whitecoat's neck, and for immeasurable seconds, the man lay there with his face growing steadily bluer. Finally, he began to twitch, his eyes flicking different directions and Fang snarled,

"Ready to talk now?"

His head moving in a jerky nodding movement, Fang finally loosened his grip.

"Just a deep cut above her knee-it was her own-"

Having gotten what he wanted, Fang pulled his fist back and the man crumpled. There was a whistle from the doorway, and I glanced up to see Ella rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Nice punch."

"He's good at that." I scooted over, making room for her on the couch next to me, and together we watched Fang kick the body away and nearly pounce on the girl.

"Nudge!" Extra-sensitive speakers caught him whispering urgently to her, voice rough as if he had been inhaling smoke. Knowing the whitecoats and their tests, he probably had been. "Nudge!" He said again. "Wake up!"

Again, she groaned and he called her name louder.

"Fang?" She whispered, her head turning to look up at him, who nodded vigorously as he elevated one leg and tore off the lower part of her pant leg to view the wound. He swore, tore off a section of his shirt and began wrapping it up tightly. Nudge hissed in pain, but after a second, looked back at Fang with a dazed look on her bloodstained face.

"Fang?"

"Mhm?"

"You have three heads."

"Fantastic."

"Why?" She looked puzzled, even as she whimpered in pain as he tied the knot tighter. "Last… I saw you, you had… only one."

"When you get older, you grow more heads. Keep talking."

"Oh." She grimaced, though whether from the pain or this lie I couldn't tell. "I don't wanna get older."

"Yes, you do." Fang snapped suddenly, making both Ella and I twitch with his cold tone even as he nearly pulled Nudge onto his back. "Older people don't get hurt."

"So if I was… older… whitecoats wouldn't hurt me?"

Fang nodded swiftly and began to hurry to the exit, but by this time the alarms were sounding and red lights spun everywhere.

"Are you all freakishly strong?" Ella raised her eyebrows in my direction. "It's not fair."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that she was kidding. With a slight _popp_ing noise, the screen switched views, and an Eraser was dumping Fang and Nudge into their cages, back in our little room that was hardly large enough to hold all of our cages. Iggy, Gazzy, Angel and I all perked up as they tumbled into their own cells, and as soon as the Eraser left, I turned to Fang.

"What happened?"

"Took us to fight. Different arenas." He whispered, then coughed a few times as his voice faltered. "I was gassed. Dunno what they did to her. Bad cut above her knee, and I helped her escape."

"Gazzy, put Angel down." I immediately launched into leader mode; the three youngest shared a cage. "Check that the bleeding as slowed and elevate her leg. Look for any other injuries."

He complied quickly, even though baby Angel put up a bit of a fight and began to cry when her brother (barely able to follow orders himself) hefted up Nudge's leg and fell asleep.

"They're all so cute." Ella sighed sadly. "A little ragged, but adorable!"

"Aren't they, though? Then Angel started reading minds and Gazzy started causing bomb scares."

Ella sat with me throughout three entire videos, each getting worse and worse. Nudge, obviously, survived her incident, Angel got older, Gazzy discovered his gross ability to clear a room, Iggy lost his sight, and Fang stopped talking. Completely. We would sometimes narrate or put in a sideways comment, analyzing the whole point of watching these, but so far had come up blank. Finally, mom came in with a frown and flipped the TV off, cutting off a scene of Iggy throwing a perfect right hook.

"I understand your work ethic, Max." Mom addressed me. "But you two have been watching these for five hours now… I'm surprised your brains haven't slid out of your ears yet."

"Really?" I jumped up hastily, falling off the couch in the process, but I got up just as quickly. "Fang isn't back yet, is he?"

"Not that I know of." Mom tried to reassure me, but her tone was lost. Her eyes betrayed her. "Does he, er, usually stay away for so long?"

_"Damn." _I swore none to quietly, and she didn't even rebuke me. "Freaking little… no. He doesn't. He would have said something if he was flying to Washington."

"So this means… are we gonna look for him?" Ella asked hesitantly as I began to pace. "Or wait until he-"

"Angel!" I snapped. "Where is she?"

You may say I was overreacting, that it was wrong to take out my frustration on my family, but I am so not into the whole MIA Flock thing, and Fang would have said something if he would be gone that long. Needless to say, I was stressed with a capital S.

"Here." She had materialized in the doorway. "I was sleeping, but I heard your thoughts and they're loud…"

"Any idea-"

"No."

"Where're Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge?"

"On their way, I called them."

"Good." I turned to mom and Ella who were watching this exchange with curious expressions. "Angel and I are going on a recon mission, no we're not overreacting. Iggy, Nudge, and Gaz will stay here with you; just to be sure nothing happens while we're gone. We're leaving now; tell them when they get here. If Fang comes back, tell him I'm going to kill him slowly and painfully. If we're not back in three hours… well… we'll be back."

Before they could respond, Angel and I had taken off out the door and into the sky. Sky filled with ominous thunderheads, mind you.

She scanned for minds as we circled high up, using our raptor vision to examine everything. I wasn't sure how long we were flying for, I had forgotten a watch despite what I had told mom about being back in three hours, but the rain had began and I couldn't risk flying in the lightning.

"Max." Angel put her hand on my arm as we landed, rather shakily, in a forest about ten miles from the house. "We'll find him. Fang will be fine."

"No he won't." My teeth chattered as the wind whipped around us and I picked up the speed as we raced for a road. "I'll kill him."

"No you won't."

"Shut up, Angel."

I had to slow down as Angel began to fall behind; I was running too fast for her to keep up. Finally, too impatient, I flung her over my shoulders and sprinted the last quarter mile to the house as thunder shook the sky. It's official. Arizona is the state of thunderstorms.

"Is he-?"

"No." Iggy shook his head and relaxed his posture somewhat as we leapt up onto the porch, not minding the stairs. He apparently had been keeping watch, and I felt a brief glimmer of pride that he was so capable. "You've been gone hours."

"He's nowhere in a one-hundred mile radius of the house." I reported, shaking water droplets from my hair. "And it's not your fault, Ang." I had seen her expression as she flopped down on one of the damp porch chairs.

"This cannot be good for his health." Said Gazzy seriously, joining us on the porch with a worried mom and Ella close behind.

"Probably not." Angel glanced up at the sky, cut in half with lightning.

"Did he get lost, do you think?" Ella offered quietly, her forehead creased with worry.

"Built in directional sense." I shook my head. "Impossible."

"You searched the ground, too? Incase he flew into a tree or something?" Iggy added the last part casually, for Ella and mom's sakes; we both knew that Fang wouldn't fly into a tree. If he was on the ground, it wasn't his fault.

"Yes."

It was then I realized that they were all looking at me, waiting. Right. C'mon leader, lead already!

"Right." I clapped my hands together. "Ella, you're calling one of your friends and sleeping over at their house. Mom, you're having the night shift at the office. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if he was kidnapped, for lack of a better word, I would assume that They know we are here. The rest of us will stay here incase he comes back. Iggy, resume watch on the porch with Total. Nudge and Gaz, you go watch from upstairs." Mom had a whole wall of window in her room, great for keeping watch while dry. "Does anyone know what time it is?"

"Six-o-clock."

"Thank you, Ella. Go call your friends. Tell them your cousins were bothering you and ask if they for the love of God would let you stay over for a night. Mom-"

"I'm not going anywhere, Maximum."

I raised my eyebrows, meeting her eyes, waiting for an explanation.

"If Fang does come back," she responded coolly. "Medical assistance might be required, judging by how you're all acting. I'm not going to go sit at an office with no night hours."

And that was how I ended up patrolling the woods with Angel on foot, mom trying to keep the other two occupied, and Iggy 'watching' for anything that might be coming our way that Angel didn't pick up with her wonderful mind controlling/overhearing abilities until four the next morning.

Fang had officially been gone for twenty-four hours, and the rain hadn't let up.

In short, I was ready to kill someone.

_"Weathermen say this may be the heaviest rainfall record Arizona has had in over fifty-five years," _accounted the too-cheerful weatherman with wavy hair. _"The rain will continue to fall for the next three days, if letting up a little here and there. Thunder and lightning will be on and off for the region, it is advised by health officials to stay inside and away from hills, as there have already been reports of major mudslides, though no injuries have been reported. Now, back to you, Bruce, with reports on the drug running in Jamaica. This is National Public Television."_

"Who cares about drug running?" I muttered to myself, impatiently pulling my raincoat out of the dryer. It was still damp, but now that the lightning had stopped-for now-I was going out again. As I pulled it over my head, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror.

I had circles underneath my eyes to compete with Edward Cullen. Score. Maybe that was the reason I was so attractive. Haha, not.

"I'll be back!" I called to everyone in general, flinging the screen door open again. Gazzy nodded once, listlessly from the couch. He had spent the night wide-awake, I could tell he was having nightmares while awake. This touched too close to home for us birdkids, while I could see Ella and mom were in a state of denial.

Three hours later, as I landed on the ground yet again as the lightning started up, I wanted to scream in frustration. Actually, I had been suppressing that urge since mom had turned the television off the day before, but it took all my control not to. I don't think the people ushering their dogs to do their business so they could get inside would have appreciated that.

_Where was he? _The question kept flashing back and forth in my mind, as if it were some trivia question I knew the answer to but couldn't for the life of me recall. I had already visited any nearby places Fang might take shelter in, the cave by Lake Mead (the hawks were not pleased), the vet clinic (I had to try), the woods, even Nudge's supposed old home (which was also suffering from the weather) to no luck.

I had already downed two redbulls bought at nearly deserted gas stations, but even so I was _exhausted. _I was soaked to the skin, making my raincoat pretty much redundant, and I could nearly feel the ulcers growing with worry.

_Where was he?_

"Fang." I croaked, suppressing a cough as I leapt into the air again. "Fang! Where in the name of hell are you?"

I half expected him to be right behind me, to wear the partly amused, partly irritated expression and reply, "right the hell here."

But he didn't, and my heart seemed to rip out of chest for the millionth time.

Soon, I was forced to land again and I nearly sprinted into the nearest Kwik Stop and ordered two X-tra Large Koffees. The girl behind the counter, looking a little older than me, this was probably her first job, eyed me with a sad smile.

"Bad day, huh?"

I nodded wearily. "You have no idea."

I didn't notice until after I'd paid that she had put extra cream in both of the coffees, free of charge. Out in the rain, I glanced through the window, and realized she was watching me. The girl, I couldn't even remember her name from her tag, raised a hand and waved, mouthing 'good luck.' I nodded, managing a sort of grimace.

As soon as I reached the haven of trees again, I downed the two drinks, threw out the Styrofoam, and flung myself into the air again. There was no glory in flying right now, just the pure need to keep going, going, going.

**Please refrain from the death threats, I promise to update in the next week. Or will I? ****Dun****dun****dun****.**


	40. Unwanted Girl Scouts

**Chapter Forty:**

**Ha! I'm rather proud of myself for updating so quickly-and I worked hard on this chapter, so I hope you like it. If any of you even bother reading this, here're some thank-yous.**

**IwriteUread-thank you! I'm updating faster than usual!**

**Maddy-heh heh, I guess our nails will somewhat resemble each other's then. **

**bookworm1545-thank you, I love it when people like my stories, haha, that sounded weird, but I do. **

**Bubbley-chan-it's true, but read on before making any yourself…**

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**Anyways. **

**Fang dies in this chapter.**

**Kidding.**

**Maybe.**

**Maybe Iggy dies? Along with Gazzy?**

**SUSPENSE!**

**Okay, I'm sorry. You probably want to kill me now, I would if I were you, so skip this irritating bit and READ.**

"Max, I know you're worried, but Iggy and Gazzy are going outside to look now," mom grabbed my shoulders and pushed me gently away from the door. "But, quite honestly, you're not looking or feeling your best. You need to sleep."

I shook my head and repressed a yawn. It was true, I did need to sleep, but I couldn't. How could I rest when somewhere out there, Fang could be hurt? He could be stuck in a cage somewhere, wondering where the hell I am while he gets the life beaten out of him. All I knew was that he wasn't dead. I would _know, _somehow, if he were. I would feel it. But, really, no offense Mr. Disney, but it is not a small world when your friend is missing and has been for the past eighty hours. Ella was already back from Celine's, and refused to be sent away again when nothing even more drastic had happened.

"You'll be no use to any of us if you collapse from exhaustion." Mom snapped, tugging me towards my room. "As your mother and someone with a degree in the medical field, I ask you to please try. Try to sleep."

"Can't." I slurred, eyelids blinking wearily as she pushed me down onto the mattress and pulled the blankets up to my chin, even as I coughed in her face.

"Yes, you can. As soon as you wake up, you'll be freshened up and can search even further. You sure you don't want me to call Brigid or Dr. Abate?"

"Don't call anyone." I insisted roughly, my voice faltering. "If… he has been… taken, we can't let anyone know. You don't… they'll…" And my voice broke as I buried my head in my pillow, even my conscious mind not being able to shield the thoughts of auctioneers and robots and experiments and labs and cages and money and guns and humans and cages and Fang and cruelty and bars and broken bones and blood and more cages and electrified fences and whitecoats.

Mom just rubbed my shoulders comfortingly, like moms are the best at doing, and kissed my forehead.

"Whatever you say." She whispered, the bedsprings creaking as she rose. "Just sleep for a few hours, okay? Everyone else has."

"Mmm."

"It'll be alright, Max." Mom assured me from the doorway. "It'll be alright."

_But how can it? _I thought to myself, pressing my face deep into the pillow. How could it ever be all right when my Flock was broken, when my family wasn't complete? I twisted in the bed, trying to rid my gut of the poisonous feeling and looked down at Fang's slightly deflated air mattress. Without thought, I stumbled out of bed and fell into his; burying my head in his pillow and pulling his sheets close around me, inhaling his scent. It was a mixture of sweat, fresh air, wind, freedom; I nearly felt that I could smell his stubbornness. My eyes closed, but my last conscious thought was the promise that as soon as I woke, I would find him if I had to go through hell to do so.

*******

Thunder woke me, leaving my eardrums feeling battered and bruised, and it took me a moment to remember why I was sleeping on Fang's bed and felt like the definition of terrible. In the dictionary, next to 'stressed', would be a picture of me.

'Stressed.' 1. Adj. The feeling of when one's best friend/boyfriend (I dunno, I sorta always associated boyfriends with Gossip Girl) has mysteriously disappeared and is presumed kidnapped.

I stumbled out of bed, ignored the clean change of clothes left folded neatly on my bed, but gulped down the glass of water and hurried into the kitchen for a granola bar.

"Good, you're up." Iggy glanced up from a pot of water, which he was theoretically watching boil. "Nudge and Angel walking Ella to school," I had forgotten it was Monday already. It seemed like just yesterday that I had been dreading going to that terrible dance party thing on Friday… "So Gaz and I thought we could compile a list of what we know, what we assume, and any other stuff, but obviously, Gaz can barely speak right now let alone make a list and I can't write."

"On it." I snatched a pad of paper and pen and kneeled on an island stool. "What we know… What we assume… Other." As I spoke each word, I scribbled it out onto the yellowing pad.

"Been outside for approximately three days, or since four-o-clock on Saturday morning. That we know."

"Check."

Iggy bit his lip, concentrating. "Anything else that we know?"

"We assume he's not in a hundred mile radius." I muttered irritably. "Angel and I checked, but there's always the chance…" And we weren't taking any.

"So that's what we assume, right, Max?" Gaz looked up at me, raising his head from his hand on the table. I nodded, writing it down.

"Possibilities." I made another column. "Kidnapped, and underneath, potential kidnappers." As much as I wanted to deny the fact that Fang could have been kidnapped, I knew how easy it was from experience. "Number one, Itex/the School. Number two, Mr. Chu. Number three, unknown/undiscovered new baddie. Am I missing anyone?"

"You could put down Germany." Gazzy suggested doubtfully. "It's worth a shot."

"Got it." I scribbled a question mark next to Germany, but put it down anyone. The Gasman was right. Still, the list looked dismally short, especially the stuff we knew. Just to add something, I put down, 'he's alive.' "Anything else?"

We came up blank, and our pitiful list now looked like this:

**Things we know: Been outside since approx. 4 am Saturday morning**

**Things we assume: Not in 100 mi radius, kidnapped? Alive**

**Other: **

**Possibilities: Kidnapped again.**

**-Itex/the School**

**-Mr. Chu**

**-Unknown/Undiscovered new baddie**

**-Germany?**

"Where does that leave us?" Gazzy asked wearily, though the list seemed to have restored some purpose to his eyes.

"It leaves you here with a cell phone," I snatched Ella's cell phone out of my pocket (which she had happily loaned to me) and handed it to him. "And Iggy and I with mom's as we venture out into the terrible whether as we go check out the School." And I stood with purpose, ignoring the foreboding that lurked in my stomach like poison.

The water was now boiling, but Iggy had frozen in the center of the kitchen.

"We will do a perimeter check." I assured him, trying to keep the panic from leaking into my voice. "Try and figure out what we can-and how their weather is right now-and return ASAP."

"Okay." He croaked, then cleared his throat. "Will we tell your mom? We can call her at work."

I hesitated as I reached for my coat, then made a consecutive decision. "No. She'd never let us go, especially after watching those videos. Gaz, you tell her when she gets back and don't let her give you crap about it. Don't follow after us unless I call." I held up the cell phone for proof, and he nodded his head robotically, before abandoning all pretense and leaping at me with a hug.

"Just don't get lost." He sniffed. "And take cough medicine before you go. I heard you when you were asleep." Suppressing the urge to hug him so tightly his ribs would break and bruise his pride, I patted his back calmly and assured him I would. Then, just as I hurried to the bathroom to down a bottle of NyQuil (is that stuff even for colds?) I heard him hug Iggy and make him promise to come back.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love that child?

Well, we took off into the drizzling sky with Gazzy waving forlornly from below, and gradually we rose higher and higher. It wasn't long before I realized that I was soaked through, and that Gazzy's idea of putting the cell in the plastic bag was actually incredibly smart. Unfortunately, it was still hours before Iggy felt the clouds and their electric charge, and we landed just soon enough not to be fried into little chicken nuggets. Then we had to run for another hour or two until we deemed it safe to launch into the air again.

Still, it was yet another half hour before Iggy spoke, and the only reason I knew this was because he wore a waterproof watch and alerted me of every passing hour.

"Max!"

I glanced at him, shouting over the roar of the rain and wind.

"Yeah?"

"What are we gonna do if he's not here?"

I almost said, "Search until we find him!" but then decided upon "be grateful." Instead, because I'd rather not know where he was than have him stuck in hell.

"That's what I thought."

Again, it was a number of minutes before he spoke again.

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

I thought he forgot about me for a second, but I could see his face screwed up in concentration as he finally faced me.

"Does it tear you up?"

I didn't need any confirmation to what he was saying, and I could barely croak a 'yeah' that only Iggy would have been able to hear.

Needless to say, I didn't expect it when Iggy muttered, "loving people hurts." And it was only the sudden lack of wind that allowed me to hear him, so I wasn't sure if I was meant to. It just gave me another reason to drive myself faster north, just not super speed, incase I passed right over an important clue.

We dropped down as close as we dared to the torture chamber as we dared, and I was almost thankful for the driving rain that would wash away our scent and presence. When Iggy asked what we would do next, I suggested that we bed down and wait it out, watching the deserted road for any sign that the area was occupied. Even after hours of muffled coughs and sneezes, countless scares and a guaranteed few years taken off of our life spans, there was nothing. I wouldn't even think of actually entering the area unless we had a speck of proof that Fang could be in there, and if we were honest, he could also have been anywhere. How many avian-human crosses do you ever come across? He could be in Russia for all we knew.

But I had to stop thinking like that, for my own sanity. In the underbrush, I pulled my knees closer to my chest and was once again glad for the rain; glad that if I wasn't able to hold back the tears, there would be no proof unless someone licked my face. Generally, I don't allow anyone to lick my face except for Total. As I sniffed, I felt an arm place itself loosely on my shoulders, and glanced at Iggy. He didn't have to say anything, it was all in his face, and I had to smile.

"Thank you." I whispered, breaking for the first time the rule of silence we had placed on ourselves after landing in the immediate area.

"You deserve a break one in a while, Max." He nodded once, then leaned away. "We all know that."

After ten more minutes, I had to admit defeat in the immediate vicinity as the sky began to show signs of growing lighter. Meaning Iggy and I had been away from mom's house for nearly twelve hours without sleep, food, or water. The last one, however, we had seen enough of.

"Back to safety." I whispered hoarsely, wincing with the loud noise of my popping joints. "Then rest, eat, and back to mom's."

******

"Mom?" My voice cracked as she picked up on the other end. Iggy and I were forcing ourselves to choke down some McFood, insisting upon the outside tables under umbrellas. They really didn't do much, but we wanted to be off.

_"Maximum Ride!" _She snapped, her voice coming loudly out of the receiver. "_I come home from a long day at work, find Angel sobbing on her bed and jump to the worse conclusion then finding after ten minutes it was the wrong one, then I begin to search for you. Imagine my expression when Gazzy politely informs me that you and Iggy had taken off to _the School!"

"Er…" I whispered. "Not pleasant, was it?"

"NO!" She snarled, and I again realized where I had gotten my ability to 'blow up' from. "Not pleasant in the slightest! Gazzy hasn't moved from the kitchen table, incase you're wondering. Nudge said he'd been sitting there all day with Ella's cell phone in his hand! None of us would call because we were afraid you would leave the ringer on or something and someone would overhear and you'd be captured! For _thirteen hours you've been gone!" _Mom was now breathing heavily, hysterically.

"I'm glad to know you care." I took a long sip from my water bottle. "But, really, mom, I'm sorry. It's my fault all this has fallen on your shoulders, we never should have stayed so long-"

"Don't give me that, Max. You're always welcome here, and it's not your fault that Fang was captured. Please, though." She exhaled heavily. "Next time, a little update, a little sooner? We've been worried sick. Ella hasn't left her room, nobody even ate my cookies. Where are you? General area, if you may."

"Within three hours of Lake Mead from any direction." I replied carefully, being a little more specific than I usually cared to be. "We should be home by five tonight, but we should go now. See you."

"Bye, Max." She sighed wearily into the phone. "Come home safely."

I won't give you a blow-by-blow account of our trip home, which mostly turned out to be on foot, thanks to a handy lightning shower, but I will say thanks to that, it took longer than planned and mom was worried sick by the time we finally stumbled into the door.

"We're fine." I assured her weakly. "No injuries."

"Good." She ushered us into the kitchen where towels were laid out on the chairs and the table was covered in soup and grapes (I wasn't sure what the grapes were for, exactly) but for that I was thankful. After nearly four bowls of both, countless glasses of water, and showers for the both of us, we met in the living room for an account of what had happened. The only ones absent were Angel, mom, and Magnolia, who had gone for a check of the desert (about half an hour away, by car) now that the lightning had stopped for a little while. I refused to let them become burnt saguaro cacti. We had locked the house behind them.

"Absolutely nothing." Iggy croaked wearily, rubbing his sightless eyes. "Very few cars in the visiting parking lot, as there would have been had they suddenly recovered an avian hybrid. We assume that he's not there, but incase anyone cares, looks like the entire west is having weather issues, and according to ol' Bruce on the weather channel, so is the whole country. Global warming picking up again for a bad spring, I'd guess."

"Same here." Nudge sighed. "We checked everywhere in the woods, town, anywhere habitable. Nothing. What…" I could tell she had been about to turn those wide, brown eyes on me, and ask what we were going to do next. I had no answer, but that's what a leader is for. I gathered her up in my quivering arms and pulled her close.

And that was when Total stiffened, and we all turned to look at him.

"Someone's at the door." He whispered at the same time that Iggy said,

"Someone's here."

We froze.

Total concentrated. "They're knocking."

We heard.

"Maybe they'll just go away." Ella buried her head in her hands as she whispered this, and Iggy grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

The doorbell rang. Once. It echoed around the house.

_Go away. _I prayed.

Once more, the _ding_ing reverberated around the house.

Akila began to growl, even as Gazzy shushed her.

"We're broke!" I called. "Sorry, we can't afford Girl Scout cookies!"

I held my breath as, quite obviously, whoever it was stomped in frustration. Nice going, Maximum. Way to anger the Girl Scouts. Now they'll come at you with guns and take your family captive. I half expected the door to burst open with robots gunning everyone in the way down. Where was Fang when you needed him to be creepy and invisible and go find out who it was? Where was Angel and her scary mind reading abilities?

Suddenly, the stomping was accompanied by the doorbell, but it didn't stop ringing. Someone was obviously hammering on it, and I could hear the lock jingling as someone wiggled the doorknob weakly, but as if there life depended on getting inside. Instantly, I was shoving Akila, Ella, the remaining members of my Flock, Total, and myself behind the couch and out of view of the windows. I couldn't attack just yet-it could be a trap. I'd have to wait, see if I was overreacting, and if not, reassess the situation.

".OhGod." Ella breathed, burying her head in Iggy's shoulder.

"Well guys, it's been nice knowing you." We all abandoned our frozen positions to look at Total, who whispered this and got to his little Scottie feet, and without another word, trotted for the doorway. I noticed that we had all scooted as far away from the windows as possible, and the six of us were crouched behind the sofa. I tried to grab at his tail, but Gazzy was sitting on my arm, and it was thus deemed useless.

Total got on my nerves sometimes. On occasion, I wanted to shoot him. But at that moment, I wanted to call him back and make him stay and lick my cheek.

For a moment, all was quiet. Even the mysterious thing in the doorway had stopped their ringing. My heart seemed to have taken over for that job, though. I was sure that whoever was on the porch could hear it now.

"Max." Total appeared, an unreadable expression on his face. "Come here."

I waved the others back with the two twisted fingers meaning _wait here, _and carefully crawled out into the open, staying far away from anyone looking through the windows. I made my way to the heavy front door, where I peeked through the tiny hole mom had drilled once we had made it clear we would stop in as often as possible and made it good to identify who was calling.

It was dark out, the rain was coming down heavy as ever, and I could barely make out anything against the night.

"Hold me up to the hole." Total suggested quietly. "Let me sniff."

I complied instantly, not trusting my vision, and held my breath as Total inhaled deeply. He froze, even his breathing stopped, and then he whipped around in his hands to face me.

"Open the door!" He demanded. "Immediately! Open it! _Now, woman!" _

He didn't even grumble as I dropped him in the process and pulled back the lock, pulling the door open with all my might, not even daring to…

"Fang." I breathed, or I would have, had I been able to.

"About time." He mouthed, but as with me, no sound escaped his mouth, and then he was falling into my arms.

".OhGod." I found myself saying, just as Ella had been a moment before as I pulled Fang close, inhaling his scent, making sure he wasn't fake, making sure it was _him. _My arms wrapped around him tight, trying to make sure he was real, this wasn't a dream. He was leaning heavily against me, shaking, and the brief flash of eyes I had seen before he had fallen into my arms was bone tired.

"For God's sake, woman, bring him inside!" Total was running around my feet in a little happy dance, and suddenly I was half dragging Fang inside, listening to his ragged breathing in my ear and feeling his irregular heartbeat as if it were my own.

"Guys!" Total barked, lunging ahead into the living room. "Come on out! It's _him!"_

And suddenly Fang was nearly pulled out of my arms as Nudge and Gazzy attacked him, pulling him so tight I was sure each rattling breath would be his last.

"Give the man room, everyone." Iggy said dryly, grinning broadly as Gazzy buried himself into Fang, pushing him onto the couch.

"FANG! We thought you were gone, like, forever if we didn't find you! Ohmygod, you're HERE! This is fantastic!" Nudge jabbered, holding his arm as if it were life support. "And none of us stopped looking at Iggy and Max only just got back from checking out the perimeter of the School to see if you were there, but they came back only about two hours ago, and Angel and Dr. M and Magnolia are our looking in the desert because we've been searching ages but wanted to be sure you didn't miss us so we didn't all go out at the same time and… wow you're pale."

Fang smiled wryly, pushing the black hair plastering his soaked face aside with a quavering hand.

"Hey, Fang." Ella raised a hand in greeting, and Fang managed a nod and a singular raised eyebrow at her hand in Iggy's at the same time she seemed to notice, and they both seemed to jerk away from each other awkwardly. "I'll go grab some blankets-you're freezing. And I'll call mom."

"Where the hell have you been, man?" Iggy came over to the edge of the couch, and I was grateful that Ella would give us all this space to be reunited. I didn't even bother to rebuke Ig for his language.

I was looking him over, making sure he wasn't an appartition and this wasn't a dream, and suddenly Fang's eyes were meeting mine, and it was as if he had never left, and he grinned his crooked grin specially for me.

"All in good time." I answered for him, taking in his ragged appearance. In truth, it did look like he had been through hell and back. Even sitting, he was shaking with exhaustion and cold, and his skin was a mixed shade of blue and grey. Soaked through, puddles were forming on the carpet by his feet, and if I had thought that I had bad circles under my eyes, it was nothing to his. With the sudden lack of words, we could all hear his breathing, rattling like old chains. That was before he coughed forcefully, holding one arm to his chest.

I frowned slightly, perching on the opposite arm of the couch. Reading my expression perfectly, he reached over Gazzy for a notebook and pen, labeled 'English' by Ella, and flipped halfway through. Immediately, in his familiar scrawl, he began to write.

_Went flying 4 am Saturday, heading north towards School, not purposefully. Stupid. Testing new subjects in woods four hundred miles north-east, some broke off & followed me. Good models. Fly fast. Attached guns. Ability to learn through experiences. Knew I had to lead them away from here, incase someone was watching with a camera or something. Flew west towards Cali, then directly south to HI. Over islands, lost a few to bad weather, but they must have tracking devices or heat seeking stuff because they wouldn't quit. Damn them. Sorry, Max. Nudge, Gazzy, forget I wrote that. Darn them. Anyway. Finally ditched them in the Pacific near Easter Island when I flew into the water. Apparently they were still working on that aspect, because they lasted about ten minutes until I went too deep and they implodded-imploded-however the hell-scratch that, however the heck you write it. Flew back to mainland, but weather was awful, as you noticed. Flew anyway. Fastest._

I read it aloud to the others, Fang occasionally snatching it back and editing it because with his shaking hand, it was nearly illegible. Afterward, I looked up at him.

"Hawaii? Easter Island?"

_In Chile. _He wrote.

I tried to glare, but failed miserably and instead managed a half-smile.

"So, what first? Sleep? Water? Medicine? Food? Blog?" I added the last bit as a joke, though I'm sure his readers would be wondering… he generally didn't go three days without updating.

He debated it, then ignored me and tried to struggle to his feet, ignoring our protests that he needed to rest with rolled eyes.

"Why…?"

"He's been flying for nearly three entire days." I replied quietly to Ella's question. "His legs are going to be a little wobbly."

"At least he can walk. I'm wobbly when I wake up in the morning."

Finally, we managed to settle Fang down at the kitchen table just as Angel and mom arrived home, Magnolia barking and Angel crying uncontrollably and mom just watching with a smile as she offered him nearly every type of food she owned.

"You sure you don't want any pizza? I can cook some now, if you'd like, but we have leftovers, too. Then cereal, but I would think you might want something warm… No? Well, you can't only want soup, how about hot chocolate? Milk? Soymilk? I have some leftover goulash, as well, and deviled eggs, and egg salad, heck you can have Doritos if you want…"

But Fang just shook his head with a half smile and was perfectly content with his reheated soup and pitcher of water.

"Then I insist upon taking your temperature when you're done, you must be feeling awful. And you weren't fully recovered when you left, which was incredibly irresponsible, though I think it's redundant to say that. Cold medicine in the least, and maybe we can stop by my office tomorrow-"

"No." It was the only word he had spoken since he had gotten home, and by the sound of it, had cost him incredibly. Then he had to swallow a few gulps of water and cough a few times before he could have anymore soup. About halfway through his meal, Fang finally nudged me with his foot. I was sitting next to him, making sure his blankets didn't fall off his shoulders. Then he jerked his head toward his note.

"Oh, I've already thought it through." I assured him, brushing a chunk of hair from his eyes and ignoring the faint flush discoloring his cheeks. "We stay put for a while, they're going to be on hyper alert, knowing we're in the country, then in a week or two we should probably leave, we've been here too long already. It's dangerous. In the meantime, no flying, and we watch as many videos as possible."

He rolled his eyes at that last part, and I had to grin.

"Fantastic, I know."

By the time Fang had finished eating (and even then I knew he wasn't stuffed, he didn't want to bloat himself) I had sent Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy to bed. They had hugged us all goodnight, but had complied eagerly at the thought of rest. Mom nearly force-fed Fang some cold meds and handed him a bag of cough drops then he retreated to take a quick shower (he was sick of water, but shivering. He insisted it wasn't hypothermia, but the rest of us weren't quite so sure.) Iggy, Ella, and I made quick work of the dirty kitchen. We were done before Fang, so he stumbled quietly out of the bathroom and shuffled over to lean in the doorway of the living room. Iggy paused another School video (Ella had headed upstairs, giving me an understanding smile) and glanced up at him.

"Where's…" Fang whispered, barely heard over the sounds of rain. "Dr. M?"

"Upstairs." I frowned. "What's up?" And it was only when he shifted ever so slightly so I could view the arm her still held tight to his chest that I noticed it was the same one, and it hadn't moved.

"Can…Ig…look…at this?" He asked quietly, and not only because he was unable to speak louder. Still, he was ashamed to ask for help with anything. Despite my irritation, I didn't rebuke him and got up from the couch to lead him over to Iggy, who had turned the TV off.

"You're clean." Said my blind friend. "Except… I can smell blood. Where?"

"Arm." I offered, tugging it gently away from Fang's chest. Fang nodded sheepishly, and I carefully rolled the sleeve up.

"Gun." I whispered, horrified at the bloody mess. "You… complete idiot! Why didn't you tell my mom?" I attempted to punch him, but somehow my fist fell sloppily and I just held his arm tightly.

He didn't answer. He didn't need to. It was a redundant question, we both knew he didn't want her fussing. Without a word (just a dirty look at Fang) Iggy got up and retrieved some supplies from the bathroom, and immediately took to cleaning and bandaging the wound.

"You're lucky it's not deep." Iggy snapped as he finished. "What if you had fallen, huh? What if your stupid pride had caused you another Anne incident-but you weren't so lucky this time? Max is right, you _are _an idiot."

"Sorry I wanted to get back." Fang managed a dark mutter, glaring at Ig.

"I didn't mean that." He defended. "I meant you should have taken me aside as soon as you got back."

And like that, they were grinning at each other, and Fang sat between us on the couch. Well, we made him. He still doesn't like that kind of stuff, but he leaned his head on my shoulder and nudged Iggy's knee once to know he appreciated Ig fixing his arm instead of my mom. Only then, when Iggy didn't bother turning the TV on, did I finally allow myself to appreciate that he was finally home. Fang was back in my arms, his same stubborn self, still freezing (Iggy got him a blanket and covered the pair of us up, winked at me, and retreated to the other chair) and asleep. I rested my head against his, smiling softly to myself and squeezing his hand tightly. Even in sleep, Fang returned to gesture and his lip twitched, face finally relaxing from the usual tense shape it took, always a part frown while awake.

I snuggled a bit closer to him, grinning contentedly, and finally allowed my eyes to close in peace.


	41. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Smoothies!

**Chapter Forty-One: (HOLY CROW! DOES ANYONE ELSE REALIZE HOW AMAZING THIS IS? Anyway.)**

**Maddy-oh, thank you! But then when I messed up people would want him back… but that does mean a ton! I dunno how I felt about the ending of this chapter, but I hope you like it.**

**bookworm1545-sorry it wasn't as quick…**

**indescriable destruction-I dunno what happened to Anne, but I think I might bring her in to my story later. Thanks!**

**IwriteURead-yes, no problem. I don't have it in me to kill any Flock members-even Total.**

**pinkcatheaven-I'm glad you like subtle, I much prefer it. Thank you!**

**Bubbley-chan-well, maybe it did, but whatever.**

**Rainie16-thanks! Sorry for not updating faster!**

**Queen of True Love-I'll work on it. Thank you!**

"Max."

"Wha-why-what's happening?" I scrambled to my feet, rolling off the couch (does anyone else notice a pattern here?) and hitting the floor with a heavy _thunk _before finally turning around to look at the reason for me waking so suddenly.

"You just flew for three friggin days, and you're up before I am?" I glowered, snuggling back onto the couch and under a blanket that I hadn't remembered being there…

"Insomniac, as you so kindly remind me, remember?" Fang tapped the side of his head with a smile in his eyes, then reached for his computer on the coffee table. Iggy was still snoring in the chair across the way, but Fang remedied that quickly enough with a thrown shoe (still dripping, by the way.) Iggy jolted to his feet, much more gracefully than myself, and soon found himself glaring at Fang.

"Morning, Lovebirds." He snapped. "What-"

"Blog comment." Fang rasped back, hardly retaining a smile. "Need help."

I hesitated, watching as he flipped open the computer and booted it up again. Yes, I could tell, he was amused. By what, exactly, I wasn't sure, but Fang's comment had caught Ig's interest. When was the last time I had heard Fang vocally and willingly ask for help? Yes, you there, in the back. Correct! Never! Needless to say, I was curious.

"Do tell." He smirked, taking a seat on Fang's other side as if he could look at the computer screen himself. It took a few mouse clicks, even more sneezes, but finally Fang pulled open his email.

_"Hey Fang," _he began with a cleared throat. I noticed his breath smelled of honey-thanks to those handy things called cough drops. _"So I was on your site, and someone had a message on their profile that amused me. I copied and pasted it here, and maybe you could reply to it in your next post? That is, if you're not dead… Anyway, here we go. _Ready?_"_

"Stupid question." Iggy persisted eagerly. "I want to hear this list!"

"Question One:" I cleared my throat but took the computer from Fang before his voice gave out completely. "_Maximum Ride Fan Questions_. Ooh, they're on my books, too."

"Well we haven't actually read them." Iggy grumped. "Thanks to you."

"You live with me." I reminded him. "It'd get dull. Anyway, you'll like this first question. _1. Do you think Iggy is hot?_ Haha, ah, no."

"Drop dead gorgeous." Said I'll-bet-you-can-guess-who.

Fang was without comment, but stole the computer back.

"We'll type out the answers after you read them." He decided, and after nodding for me to start, I glanced at the next one.

"_2. Did you cry when Ari died? _Well, _I _did. Easy enough. Neither of you did. Oh, this is another great one. _3. Do you think Fang is hot?_"

Fang made a weird noise in the back of his throat as Iggy roared in laughter and I blushed furiously. Quickly, I moved on.

"_4. How do you pronounce Ari's name? _Let's think, hm, Ari, maybe?"

"What's up with them and Ari?" Said Iggy, not bitterly. "What's next?"

With much laughter, a few coughs to cover up embarrassment, I finally finished reading the list to the boys, and then Fang stole back the computer to write out a response.

He explained who had sent the questions in, the explanation for why, yadayadayada, and finally, that all three of us would be answering, like so.

_**1. Do you think Iggy is hot?**_

_ I. Drop dead gorgeous._

_ M. You're joking, right?_

_ F. Seriously? Next question._

_**2. Did you cry when Ari died?**_

_ I. Max stated this fact very clearly in her book, she told me. Apparently J Patz called it _The Final Warning.

_ M. Uh, read Iggy's comment._

_ F. Ditto._

_ M. You're so professional._

_ F. Psh._

_ M. Is that even in the dictionary?_

_ F. Why don't you go look it upfdvyp;kbn/l.,adlhuf8p6u;_

_ (DBI,_

_ **_

_ We apologize for technical difficulties. Blame Max. All further comments on this question will be stricken from the record. _

_** 3. Do you think Fang is hot?**_

_ I. …. No comment….._

_ M. I'm not the one stalking a supposedly fictional character… cough-cough._

_ F. I'm not fictional._

_ I. According to Borders you are._

_ F. So are you. _

_ I. Yeah, well, we weren't arguing that point, were we?_

_ F. Now we are._

_ M. GUYS!_

_**4. How do you pronounce Ari's name?**_

_ I. Uh.. Ari? You know, like, Ari? His name?_

_ M. Ditto._

_ F. Does anyone else see the irony? Anyway, I'm with Iggy. And Max, apparently, who's feeling professional, FYI._

_**5. Do you laugh every time you read the name Mr. Chu?**_

_I. I laugh every time I _hear _the name Mr. Chu._

_M. I feel a bizarre urge to kill somebody… wonder why…_

_F. Not really._

_**6. -SPOILER ALERT- In MAX, did you laugh hysterically when Total started talking about marriage?**_

_I. He talked about _marriage_? Hahahahaha (etc.), that's _great. _I would pay to have seen your face, Max._

_M. I NEARLY laughed hysterically, but given conditions, I decided against it. _

_F. Again, he talked about marriage?_

_**7. -SPOILER ALERT- Did you squeal at all the faxness in MAX?**_

_I. Again, haven't read it (or listened to it on tape/cd/whatever) but no, I more feel the bizarre urge to throw up._

_M. Like I do when he hits on my sister._

_Iggy just coughed indignantly._

_I. EXCUSE ME? I DON'T HIT ON YOUR LITTLE SISTER, YOU CRAZY NUT! What kinda question is that?_

_M. I was kidding. Put your fist down young man unless you want it to stay in that shape permanently._

_I. Ow. Fang, you better not be typing all this down… I hear those keys clicking._

_F. Course not. I'm simply recording important information. Like no, I don't squeal, and what in the name of… something good is faxness? _

_**8. Did you angrily throw your book across the room when the flock split up?**_

_I. Again, don't own/read the books…_

_M. Reread it, I don't think I ever mentioned throwing one. By the way, I don't actually own any of my books…_

_F. Yeah, I'm with Ig. Though I did throw a copy of _People _at some security guards. It wasn't very effective._

_**9. Who is your favorite character?**_

_I. Well, we're not really characters, are we? If you asked 'who is your favorite Flock member?' That would be a completely different concept._

_M. Sure. I'm with Ig._

_F. The beetle on page 249, book three, crawling across the windowsill._

_M. What beetle?_

_F. The beetle on page 249, book three._

_M. Is there actually a beetle on page 249, book three?_

_F. It's Angel's imaginary beetle. She didn't tell you? _

_I. Yeah, Max. I would've thought she'd tell you, seeing how close the two of you are. Geez. Not knowing about her imaginary beetle? At least you know now._

_M. Whatever, guys._

_I. Yeah, whatever._

_**10. Do you like Jeb?**_

_I. I think this goes for all of us-no._

_M. I think Ig summed it up. Why does he get to first?_

_F. Because he threatened me with a steak knife. And I'm with Sweeney Todd here._

_**11. -SPOILER ALERT- Were you making a genuine "WTF" face when Max and Fang grew gills?**_

_I. Yes._

_M. Yes._

_F. Yes._

_**12. Did you think MAX was better than TFW?**_

_I. Well… what happened in those books?_

_M. TFW was project global warming and Ant-freezing-ica, ending with Lerner school for gifted mutants. MAX was the kidnapping._

_I. IDK my BFF MAX. Haha, I heard Nudge say that the other day. I dunno, though, my life is too hectic to come up with answers to these prophetic questions._

_M. That made very little sense, that part at the end._

_I. Ha, well, I'm a mysterious person. Too cool for school._

_M. Yeah, and that just proves it._

_I. IKR?_

_M. and F. Whaaat?_

_I. Angel._

_M. Sometimes, if she's busy, she's taken to text-talk-mental messages. It's interesting… Anyway, I liked the ending of MAX best. And not the epilogue you sick bastards!_

_F. The site may censor that. And what, pray tell, is in the epilogue?_

_M. Shut up, censor it if you want. FREEDOM OF SPEECH! RESPECT THE COMMANDMENTS!_

_I. …………… (etc.)_

_F. …………..(etc.)_

_I. Fang, I think we need to invest in some of those books. You can read them to me._

_F. Yeah, right. Max would find your steak knife and slaughter us first._

_M. If your stupidity hadn't caught up to you by then._

_**13. -SPOILER ALERT- Did you get slightly fed up with Nudge and Angel's slight attitudes in MAX?**_

_I. I don't think they had attitudes-I think they were acting like normal children act their age._

_M. It's strange how much I'm agreeing with Iggy today. But since when did he become Dr. Phil?_

_F. I share the feeling._

_**14. Which book is your all time favorite?**_

_I. Um, well, you see, _WHAT HAPPENED IN EACH BOOK?

_M. -Sighing wearily-_

_F. Next._

_**15. If the flock had a theme song, what would it be?**_

_I. Fang should be good at this._

_F. Hardly._

_M. Iggy, you have to say something._

_I. _I Want Candy.

_M. I like that one._

_F. You have to give a song, too._

_M. But I just commented!_

_F. Well, you're still next in line._

_M. I don't know any songs._

_F. and I. Yes, you do._

_M. ARGH! This is going to sound disastrously corny-_I'm Only Me When I'm With You _by Taylor Swift. Or _We Weren't Born To Follow _by my best friend Bon Jovi._

_I. You're right-that was disastrously corny._

_M. I have your steak knife._

_I. Just kidding._

_M. Wise boy._

_F. …. Everyone's probably expecting something deep and emotional because I wear black all the time and my bangs fall in front of my eyes. Ah, the stereotypes of today's society. Hmm… well, seeing as this seems to be a key phrase in our daily activity, I think _Shut Up _by Simple Plan would work as tenth place._

_M. What about first? Or second?_

_F. Next question. But I do suggest _Save Us _by Cartel and _Fireflies _by Owl City. Nudge loves that last one. So does Max for that matter. I haven't actually heard it._

_M. I do._

_I. It's catchy._

_**16. Have you ever imagined the Flock as a band playing whatever song comes up when listening to your iPod?**_

_I. Us possessing musical instruments? Gah, I'd never be able to hear anything ever again._

_M. No, and none of us have iPods-though sometimes we steal Ella's._

_F. Can't say that I have._

_**17. Who do you think the Voice should be?**_

_I. Who? We all know Max is just crazy-ah! Kidding!!!!!! (etc. with the !!!!'s.)_

_M. That beetle in the corner so I can obliterate it-but then it might be a bit degrading that a beetle was so smart…._

_F. A beetle would be creepy, but at least it'd be gone if she squished it…_

_I. Angel's imaginary beetle? You can't kill Rocko!_

_M. Rocko?_

_I. Rocko the imaginary beetle. I call him RIB._

_M. Since when do you know how to tell male beetles apart from females?_

_I. Telepathy._

_M. Surrrreeeee. As if we don't already have one of those._

_**18. Do you think one or more members of the flock should learn to play an instrument?**_

_I. Did you not read my comment for question 16?_

_M. Fang already knows the harmonica… Iggy can start up on banjo, Angel can yodel, Gaz can learn electric violin, I'll use a triangle, and Nudge can call Total a dog, provoking wonderful background screamo tunes to clash with our country sound._

_F. We'll call ourselves _Death Screams Loudly of Love _or something. _

_**19. What bugged you the most about TFW?**_

_I. That I haven't read it._

_M. Brigid. Gozen. The UD. Hmm… yeah, that sums it up._

_F. I think Max got it covered._

_**20. MIGGY or FAX?**_

_ I. What's MIGGY?_

_ M. Screw beetles, I'm going to destroy this questioner. _

_ F. I have the steak knife!_

"You know," I sighed contentedly, leaning against an extra pillow as Fang clicked 'post.' "I'm actually glad you woke us up."

"It was amusing." Agreed the blind pyro. "Pray tell, though, what's Miggy? It has something to do with me, doesn't it?"

"No, where on earth did you get that idea?" I rolled my eyes, forgetting for a moment it would be lost on him, and instead laced all the sarcasm I could into my voice. Fang sighed heavily and heaved the computer off his lap, but even that little effort seemed to have exhausted him.

"Well, while I contemplate the mystery," Ig got to his feet. "I think I'll start on breakfast. Any requests?"

"Cookie dough banana ice cream smoothie!"

"With extra chocolate chips?"

"Seriously?"

"Well," I raised my eyebrows. "Originally I was kidding, but that actually sounds really good. I think I could go for one."

Fang nodded his assent, grinning at me and mouthing 'cookie dough banana ice cream smoothie?'

Iggy left, muttering about our sanity. It's called creativity, people.

"Only if can add some protein powder!" Iggy called back, slamming drawers in the kitchen and probably waking anyone else still sleeping.

"Well," I glanced again at Fang, placing my chin on his bony shoulder. "I think it has promise."

He didn't respond, but kissed by forehead once and began to get to his feet. I could see the effort it cost him, but I could also tell that if I protested he probably would have hit me, and it hurt him more to be a useless lump than to walk around. Not that he was ever a useless lump.

Later, when Ella, mom, and the rest of the Flock had woken by the sound of the blender (it did not appreciate our request, but after a few unmentionable obscenities on Iggy's part, it worked) and seated in the living room, we began another video.

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but these were really beginning to bother me. Have you ever had that feeling when the answer is right in front of you, but for the life of you, you can't see it? I felt like a blind woman that wasn't quite as cool as Iggy groping around in utter darkness as the screen bleeped on, slightly fuzzy but discernable. A tall hairy monster (an Eraser, I wonder?) had tied Nudge's hands and feet behind her back and was stuffing her unceremoniously into her cage. Granted, our work did pay off because by the end of the day we had finished the second to last tape.

"If you don't mind," Ella shuddered, eyes still glazed as she tried to get over the traumatizing film. "Can we watch one of those normal videos? I like those. You're all so cute!"

I gestured to Nudge to replace the School video with the one Jeb had made for us. As the screen crackled to life, I muttered to Fang,

"This is going to make me permanently paranoid. I'll never be able to go to sleep again."

Jeb was wiping off the counter, and in the window behind him, you could see the forests and mountains coated with a layer of snow. He looked up as a younger version of myself slid down railing that barred the staircase. When I slid off, I could see myself frown and pull the sleeves up on an enormous sweatshirt that I was wearing.

"Oh, hey, Jeb!" I glanced up at him with a smile, then went back to rolling up the sleeves. It was obviously his, the bottom of the crimson shirt fell to my knees, and the huge H was larger than my ribcage.

"Hi, Max." He seemed to notice what I was wearing for the first time. "Where'd you find that?"

"Iggy's room." I rolled my eyes, taking a seat on the barstool, causing the sleeves to unroll again. "He was trying to shred it for a fuse, so I told him it was mine, even though I think it's yours. What's the H stand for?"

"Harvard University." Jeb breathed a sigh of relief. "It was where I went to college."

"Is it a good school?"

He nodded with a grin. "Very prestigious. I got that at a football game."

I snorted. "Football? Do football players have abnormally long arms?" I held up the sleeves and hit them against the counter irritably.

"No, you're just tiny."

"Unfortun-_what are you doing?_" I spun around on the stool as the back door opened and Fang came into view, a dusting of snow giving his hair and wings and look of a Dalmatian. He shook out his feathers, scattering the icy flakes over the carpeted floor, but the wet spots left behind weren't what concerned me. Held in his left hand was a bucket full of fresh, white snow.

"Putting snow in the refrigerator." He replied in that patronizing tone where he seemed to be stating something completely obvious. He raised his eyebrows at Jeb and I and rolled his eyes, moving the milk, vegetables, and orange juice to the side to make room in the very back.

"Why?"

"So it doesn't melt."

"Don't give me that crap. What are you planning to do with it, because it's obvious you don't want to keep it just to look at seeing as it's January and there's three feet of snow outside."

"Making sure Iggy doesn't find it."

I buried my head in my hands, clearly frustrated.

"Does this have anything to do with using your room as a military battlefield?"

"Yep." He replied, nearly drowned out by the laughter that took place off screen. It was amazing how quickly the mood would lighten with just five minutes of these videos. I always thought we should have our own reality TV shows.

The next little blip revealed a slightly older Fang and Iggy crouched low over a group of newspapers.

"Q-tips." Iggy held one hand out for Fang to place said item in. Their position proved impossible to see what they were concentrating on, but when I glanced at Fang, he just shook his head once. He wasn't going to tell. I elbowed him.

"Tape."

Fang narrowed his eyes. "We can't tape him!" He protested. "It'd mess up his feathers-"

"Look, you asked me to do this, we're doing it my way."

"I can always-"

"Ask Jeb? Yeah, that'd go over well, seeing as you hate his guts. Max can't make toast let alone fix a broken wing, and Nudge would be too busy cooing over it to notice that his wing is broken. Plus, his feathers can't get more messed up, can they? Now, hand me the tape or I'll tape _your _wings together."

Fang snorted skeptically, but placed the Scotch in Iggy's free hand.

A moment later, we could see Iggy grin, and not his I-just-broke-my-record-on-breaking-into-Max's-closet grin.

"There." Iggy lifted a now visible, small, grey-feathered chick and placed it in Fang's hand. Immediately, it began chirping and hopping around in circles on Fang's pale hand. One of it's wings was bound in a little splint, and it looked almost comical as it warbled loudly enough for Iggy to wince. "Now you just need to get it something to eat."

"What do birds eat?"

"I dunno." He shrugged, brushing his hands off on his torn jeans. "Do you know what kind of bird it is?"

"Falco sparverius." Glancing at his friend's face, Fang changed tactics. "American Kestral."

"Raptor." Iggy concentrated. "So bugs in the summer and small birds and rodents in the winter. Seeing as I refuse to help you strangle Angel's best friends, we could it start it on a diet of oatmeal and hamburger meat."

"Oatmeal?"

"Well, we don't have that much hamburger meat, and who doesn't like oatmeal? We have loads of Apple Cinnamon. If we run out of that, we have some stale Fruit Loops in the basement."

"Some raptor." Iggy snorted, nudging Fang with his foot. "Did we ever feed it Fruit Loops?"

"We fed it everything." Nudge remembered. "One time I complained about the raspberry chunks in my cereal and you gave it to him."

"You fed an American Kestral raspberries?" Mom paled.

"He was a hardy little thing." I assured her. "He ate the stuffing in one of Angel's stuffed animals."

"Did you name him?" Ella's eyes were glued to the fuzzy chick that seemed to have found a home in Fang's palms. "He's so cute!"

"They wouldn't let me name him." Angel grumped. "They thought it would be something stupid."

"No, we just didn't think 'Strawberry Shortcake' was appropriate for a bird of prey."

"Yeah, Iggy, because Fruit Loops are so majestic." Angel snorted with a tone very similar to the one I sometimes used.

"We called him Blackie." Fang informed Ella. "Thanks to Nudge."

"She didn't think that the light colored chick fuzz would turn into dark feathers, so she sort of joked around with it." I explained. "She called him Blackie as a joke, and it stuck, I guess."

"Turned out well, though." She chuckled. "He made himself a nest in the wall and stuffed it with things he found outside, mostly feathers and moss."

No, none of us thought it strange that a kestrel lived in the walls, but what can I say?


	42. Uses of the Lacrosse Stick

**Chapter Forty-Two: Ella Point of View**

** Okay, let me know if I totally screw up Ella's point of view. In the next two chapters or so, I'm gonna switch back and forth a lot, so just tell me to stick to Max or whatever you think. Anyway, I apologize for not updating sooner; I wanted this chapter to be pretty close to **_**perfect.**_** Yes, I aim high. Yes, I miss sometimes. Anyways, enough with the self-help tape stuff and onward to reviewers than the chapter! On a side note, have any of you guys seen **_**Where the Wild Things Are**_**? How was it? Random, but I love that book. Anyway, reviewers…**

** Maddy-well, thanks! You could advise me on all the pyro stuff, and I really like your story, too, so even if they seem pale I don't think they are. Wow, that was really clipped and not well written, that reply… Haha, well, being Iggy and Fang's lovechild would probably be interesting, so kudos for you. **

** Gontulet-thank you for the amazing, multiple reviews! Ah, are you against the government as well? Join my club, we have colorful badges. **

** Rose-yes, I had a lot of fun writing that part and actually got it off someone's profile on max-dan-wiz. Sorry for taking so long with the update!**

** girludon'tknow-I **_**love **_**Fireflies-glad you suggested it! There will be more videos, if not in the way you expect…**

** IwriteUread-I think I sent you a message about your idea, but it's very interesting! Just like the Terminator, Stripes will be back!**

** Bubbley-chan-no worries, sorry if I sounded harsh, you didn't offend me… and I do like Breakaway!**

** Rainie16-sorry for the wait! I'm glad you liked it.**

** Dibs On Fang He's So Hot-no, sorry if that was unclear, this is a fax/mang fic, not a miggy one. Thanks for the review, though!**

** Kay, guys, here goes: Hope you like it.**

"This is a skunk bush." I bent down next to Nudge who was examining the shrub's colored fruit. "You can eat those little red pods, though they're not as fresh as they were a week ago."

"What do they taste like?"

I frowned. "Sort of tart… but they're good. People make juice out of them."

We were taking a walk in the desert, about an hour from our house. Gazzy had read about some rock formations that were apparently pretty famous but I had never heard about before, which mom thought was a crime, so she, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Fang and I had piled into the car. I was glad mom had decided against getting a tiny Prius. Max and Angel were on some recon mission somewhere, and I half wondered if Fang hadn't just came for the sights. In my opinion, the desert what at it's best at either sunrise or sunset, but I had school the next day, and no one was willing to get up incredibly early at the moment. Even so, Fang barely seemed to pay attention to whatever Gazzy was speaking about, and instead had his eyes peeled. He hadn't relaxed since we left the house and spoken very little.

"Fang's always paranoid." Nudge whispered to me when she caught me watching him. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah." I muttered absently. But I had learned a few things since I found that the leader of the Flock was my half-sister, and I wasn't so ready to dismiss it.

"Hey, Ella?"

"Yeah, Gaz?" I waved to the eight year old as he bounced over.

"Why are there so many planes? Is there an airport nearby? There's been one overhead every hour or so."

"Arizona National Airport. Biggest one in the state." I grinned, ruffling his messy blonde hair. "Since this is a national park, though, they're required to fly a certain height above us so they don't mess up animal lifestyles or something."

"That's good." He nodded. "Dr. M said that's why they don't have lights in the parking lot, either. Something about pollution, right?"

"Yes, light pollution." I agreed, having heard a lot about this before. "In the desert, since it's so hot, there are a lot of nocturnal animals. Light at night can sometimes mess up their internal schedules, so there are laws about where you can put outdoor lighting."

"Why is the sand different colors?" A few feet away, Iggy was pressing his palms into the dirt. Fang muttered something back, but I didn't catch any specifics. I wasn't sure if Iggy did, either. Fang was concentrating completely on some photographers from National Geographic or something who had been photographing some of the rock formations around us. One of them, the head of the operation, I guessed, had been making small talk with mom, and a few had tried with us, but given up quickly.

"Nick!" Nudge called excitedly, using the fake names we had fell into using after the other people had arrived. "Come look at this! You, too, Jeff!"

"Coming, Krystal." Iggy muttered, fingering a shard of some pale rock with his fingertips. Nudge was crouched over a small hole in the ground, pointing at some fresh tracks leading right into it.

"Kangaroo rat tracks." I explained to her. "I had to do a report on them in second grade."

"If only Angel were here to convince one to come out." Gazzy sighed, peering deep into the hole as if expecting one to pop out. "She said she saw one, and that they're-"

"No one move." Fang's voice, soft as a breeze, was suddenly in my ear. "Act normal."

Instinctively, cluing into his tone of voice, my body tensed up, and it took extreme concentration to spit out that yes, they were very cute rodents that lived underground.

Fang had gotten to his feet and casually strode over to my mom, talking animatedly with one of the photographers. I couldn't tell what in the world he thought was wrong, and slightly guiltily, the word _paranoid _came to mind. Fang nodded once to the man who would have made boy-crazy Celine go crazy, and gestured with his head to mom. Concerned, she turned on her heel, and from there it happened incredibly fast.

Fang stiffened visibly as she turned her back on the photographer, and right before my eyes, the man morphed. I mean, like seriously _morphed. _It was something out of a creepy sci-fi flick as his shirt ripped with expanding muscles and his face elongated to accommodate the huge fangs that were suddenly lunging for my mother's throat. Fang shouted something that seemed muted to my ears, and the world began to spin as Gazzy and Iggy launched themselves over the boulder at the rest of the men. Nudge shoved me back against the rock, gestured for me to stay low, and quickly followed suit.

As soon as she had left, I peeked over the edge of the boulder, unable to stay hidden and not know what was going on, but as soon as I did, I wished I hadn't. The clean-shaven, polite men at the photo shoot were pulling guns out of their clothing, some were morphing into enormous, fanged beasts, and one had my mother in his claws. How on earth my friends thought they could take these monsters on was beyond me, they were outnumbered by at least fifteen, but Fang was still clobbering my mom's captor around the head, and Iggy and Gazzy had already managed to light three of them on fire while Nudge boxed one in the ears.

It was the first time that I really saw what it was like for the Flock. A moment before we had been examining rocks blown into shapes by the wind, and now they were fighting for our lives.

_Where is my lacrosse stick when I need it?_

Trying to think logically, I scrambled around for something, anything, that could provide protection. That's what they told you to do in an attack-get a brick or a rock. My hands found the strange, sharp stone that Iggy had been toying with earlier, and I held it tightly in my hands.

That was when my arms were pinned behind my back and a gag shoved into my mouth.

I struggled, attempting to rip my hands away, trying to shout obscenities through the rag, I shot my feet out from underneath me and kicked in a place that confirmed the thing was male. It shrieked in agony, and lunged at me with claws.

Blood dripped down into the sand and it took me a moment to realize that it was _my blood _as the talons dug into the flesh beneath my eyes_. _Again I tried to twist away, but whatever the monster was held on tight. It was a thing of nightmares, but I couldn't wake up and have a glass of hot chocolate. I was flung into the sand and screamed again as the grit coated my sticky face. All I could see was it's terrible face, all I could smell was it's terrible breath as it closed in…

And suddenly it was gone.

I couldn't tell if it was a delusion, black spots coated my vision, but I could dimly see the thing stagger back with something clutching to it's neck, sending a shower of kicks and punches wherever it could reach.

"Ella!" It shouted my name, strangely familiar, but I hadn't often heard it yell. "Run!"

The monster was flung away and the black thing grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet.

"Ella!" It shook me once, twice.

"Fang?" I rasped, trying to regain my balance as I clutched at my face.

"Run and hide." He instructed me, shaking me again. "Can you do that? Please? _Shit._" He whipped around, aiming a kick a new threat and catching it in the gut. "Dr. M!"

Again a new pair of arms held me close, but this time they were familiar as they tried to drag me away, whispering words of comfort.

"Ella!" My mom begged me. "You have to get out of here! Call for help, we're losing, no!" I could tell her concentration was no longer focused on me. "_Don't you touch him you sick bastards!"_

Only moments later, I lay tied on the ground between my mother and a bloodied, ashy Gasman. It hadn't taken long for them to subdue Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy, but they were furious. The present Flock members had put up a better fight than anticipated, and we were all tied tightly.

"It was a valiant attempt." The monsters had resumed their previous forms, the leader brushing his brow as if it were simply a hot day. He was addressing Fang, bound on his knees in front of him and looking ready to spit fire. "However, I think you would find it easier to succeed in survival if you let the weak fend for themselves."

"I-"

I shrieked as the butt of the gun came flying at his head and he was sent rolling aside into the sand. Iggy spat something that probably would have been censored anyway, but his gag blocked it out and the men ignored him as they made plans for the chopper to land without killing anyone. Fang flipped his feet up, despite them being tied, and caught one of the men/monster things in the jaw, who turned to him with a roar and tried to stomp down upon him, but he quickly rolled to the side, avoiding each heavy footfall by inches.

"Stop it!" I begged around the filthy rag in my mouth and ignoring the fierce pain as my jaw moved. "Please!"

The heavy boot caught Fang in the chest, and Nudge shrieked wordlessly at his attacker, trying to wiggle forward in the sand. Mom began to try and reason with him, but it was only when the leader held up his hand did the monster lift his foot from Fang's heaving chest.

"Leave it." He commanded. "We have Ride, and most of the group. The mind reader won't survive long on it's own."

Before I could even properly absorb what he had said, the leader turned to me.

"You're not quite as smart as the file makes you out to be, huh, mutant?"

I raised my eyebrows, despite the pain in my face. I couldn't believe it. The moron actually thought that _I _was _Maximum Ride? _It was probably a good thing I was gagged because otherwise I would have said something that would make him see sense-and Max wouldn't be free. I had no idea where she was, but that was what counted at the moment.

The pain in my face had dimmed enough for me to realize that much. They had to think that I was Max, there had to be someone free to save us. Because, eyeing the monsters hefting six crates out of the back of the fake photography van, I wasn't sure we could do it on our own.

*******

**Max's Point of View**

"Where did they say they would be, Total?" I plucked up the tiny Scottie and placed him in my backpack. Angel and I had returned moments ago to find an empty house and a bored dog.

"The desert. Some national park." He grumped. "I can't believe they left me _behind! _Can you believe how degrading that is? I'm disgusted!"

"Yes. It's terrible." I appeased him. "Now, do you know where?"

"Edge of the city in the desert by some famous rock thing." He was not his usual eloquent self, still put off by being left behind.

"That's all right, Total." Angel rubbed behind his ears. "I'm sure being in a cramped car with my brother wouldn't have been that fun anyway. You can fly with us!"

We took off in the back yard, not the least winded from our expedition for scoping out the surrounding area. Everything had seemed normal, so we'd come back earlier than expected. I'd heard of the area Total was talking about and new the direction to head. Seeing as we'd be there in twenty minutes, I didn't envy the boys who would be stuck in the van that would become tiny with six people inside.

At first I wasn't exactly sure why Angel and I began to speed up when we reached the desert, maybe it was that we could see for miles and yet couldn't see anything that resembled our family.

"Max." Angel murmured worriedly. "Down there." She pointed, and I caught the distinct figure of something that sent chills down my spine. A crate worthy of PetSmart. I didn't even bother with typical landing procedures, where we make sure to land a ways away from where we want to be incase of a trap, just bolted to the ground with a sloppy landing right next to the crate.

"No." I croaked as I took in the scuff marks, the spots of blood and torn clothing, the circling in the sand from a helicopter. "No."

"The animals are frightened." Angel whispered, burying her head in my side, wrapping her arms around me. "We've missed them by about five minutes!"

"Then we're going to catch them." I looked up at the sky in fury, already unfolding my wings. "C'mon. Those pilots are going to regret the day they were born."

*******

**Fang's Point of View**

Still resisting the urge to press the back of my head with my hand, I barely understood the words the leader of the mutant team was taunting Ella with. I wanted to bang my head against the wall of the cage… wanted to tear something apart with hatred for the people who put my family into the cells. Preferably them.

"Sir," a new one of these enemies walked into the main room in the large chopper. "We have an unknown object approaching at over one hundred and fifty miles per hour. Suggested course of action?"

I pricked my ears, attempting to concentrate around the pounding in my head. Of course, if it was Max, I didn't know what she had done with Angel, but who else would be coming? Who else could project themselves at one hundred and fifty miles an hour through the air? If I was honest with myself, I wished that she would call the authorities, use her sharp tongue to get things done with the Navy, Armed Forces, Militias, and in the meanwhile pace frantically at the small log cabin somewhere below us. But I knew Max, and even if I didn't, I would know she'd never be content to wait behind the so-called professionals.

I was only entertaining the notion of rescue for one strict reason, one I would never admit to anybody, even Rocko, Angel's imaginary beetle who wouldn't tell anyone. We weren't getting out on our own. I'd rather go down fighting then be stuck in that hell hole, but once you're there, you're there, and you're not getting out alone.

Of course, I aimed to change that.

"Fang?"

I glanced up as much as I could with my back bent uncomfortably in the too-small crate that was already making me sweat bullets. The Gasman, his cage positioned next to mine, had his eyes trained into mine, which had a moment before, been staring off into space. The kid was going to go prematurely grey and need botox for his wrinkles by the time he reached ten.

"You all right?"

I attempted to nod, but thanks to the fact that I could barely see straight after being clocked in the back of the head and that my head could barely move an inch without hitting the roof of the cage or my knees, I just muttered a "fine."

"Look," Ella muttered quietly as the stranger turned his back on us. "I have an essay due tomorrow that I haven't even started. You'd think they might have warned us."

I couldn't help but glance at her, cuts still oozing blood underneath her eyes. For being attacked by mutant spawn, thrown into a cage and airlifted out to who-knows-where, she was being extraordinarily calm. She had snuck one of her tiny hands through the bottom bars of her crate and stroked Nudge's shoulder soothingly.

_"4670, do you copy? Over."_

I twitched as a voice crackled over some radio loudspeaker, grating at my nerves. The guard watching out the window for the assumed projectile held a radio to his mouth.

_"Reading. Over."_

_ "Projectile gaining speed, two heat sources as one shape. Presumed attached for some reason. Small, probably custom designed. Heading directly for your chopper. Assumed time until meeting: Four point zero two minutes. Over."_

Barely retaining a smirk, I began to count.

"Fang?"

"Yeah, Ig?"

"Ready to wreck havoc?"

This time the grin won over. "Hell, yeah."

"What's the plan?" I was somewhat surprised to see Dr. M looking to the pair of us for instruction.

"In about four minutes," Ig whispered just loud enough for her to hear over the roar of the helicopter's propellers, "Max and Angel will be here. Until then, Ella, it is of the utmost priority that you continue to pretend to be Max."

"Leroy!" The leader of the team addressed another of these strange new creations with a chilling tone. "Run tests of what it could be, any new type of equipment or weapon, living or man-made. An avian experiment seems likely, research any new developments in that field."

Above the helicopter's noise, I heard frantic clicking as someone began to type.

"There is a new tracking device on the market, but that's in Japan-"

"Then don't bring it up, fool."

"Yeah, you fool." Nudge whispered just loud enough to be heard. "Stop being so foolish."

Both men seemed completely at ease, and the leader didn't even turn to face her as he calmly replied, "silence yourself, or I will make you."

"How do you silence yourself?" Iggy wondered aloud.

"Take out your voice box?" Ella suggested. "Or duct tape. Duct tape would work-"

"Decapitation would do it." I added dryly, not moving as the main son-of-a-rhymes-with-witch turned and began to walk toward us.

He met my eyes and didn't look away even as I fought the urge to flinch after looking into his icy blue eyes… He looked capable of eating live kittens and laughing. There was no way in hell that I would let him take us anywhere.

"Are you suggesting decapitation?" He leaned down in front of my cage, and I swore the air temperature dropped a few degrees. "Would you prefer that, mutant?"

I narrowed my eyes, almost wishing Max was there to spit some word-fire into his face. The others had stopped their whispering, even Larry or whatever the other man was called had stopped his typing.

"Answer me. Would decapitation silence you?"

Behind him, Nudge snorted. I settled in to wait.

His eyes, pale pools of ice, sharpened as he gripped my cage. Slowly, his average human finger nails began to grow and lengthen, curling into deadly talons.

"I _order _you to speak."

My crate began to shake with his fury, and I managed to find some satisfaction in the fact that they could bind and cage us, but they could never take my words.

"Captain? Thirty seconds-"

"Then blow it up!" He bellowed, landing flecks of spit on my face. "We have missiles, correct? Guns? Is this fact beyond your comprehension?"

No. They couldn't.

"Scared, are you?" The captain turned back to me as his follower hurried to the front of the helicopter. "I saw your eyes widen, precisely .0009 a fraction of an inch, which just proves how second-rate you are-"

"Yeah, you're superior all right." Dr. M snarled, yes, _snarled _back at him. "If you're willing to kidnap children!"

"He's scared for his little friends. Two of them are following us, and though I don't know who they are, it won't matter." Before my eyes, his teeth began to morph into an enormous, leering grin that chilled my bones. "Because they will, very soon, be blown to pieces. Now I order you to _speak._"

**Alright, I'm sorry if this kills anyone because I've been getting some amazing reviews lately from some amazing people, but I think this fic is going to end soon, but fear not! There will be a sequel, following a relatively similar storyline (as in, it continues, it's not the same characters doing something else). Anyway, did I get the different point of views right? Reviewing with your opinions would be super helpful… see you later.**


	43. Dibs

**Chapter Forty-Three**

** No time for random chatter now! You guys want your chapter! Happy Thanksgiving, and now for reviewers.**

** Random5185-I'm glad you liked it and I wasn't too awful with the different POV's. Thanks!**

** Rainie16-haha, a softball bat would definitely be useful! **

** Rose-thank you! Haha, Max is sooo ticked off.**

** Dibs On Fang He's So Hot-Sorry I couldn't update sooner! Thank you soo much!**

** Love it!-This chapter will not mainly be Max's point of view, but in the future, it generally will be. I also am trying to update fast for you guys, you're all awesome! Yes, I agree about the gory stuff, and even though it may be under different circumstances, there will be more videos! That's a guarantee.**

** Maddy-yes, don't mess with the doctor! -laughs- thanks!**

** Bubbley-chan-thank you! I actually did read a fic like that once… I dunno how to make a bomb like Gaz and Iggy do, but I can pretty much guarantee that you could with the right materials.**

** faximumridefaxfaxfax-sorry this wasn't 'tomorrow' but I hope you like the chapter!**

** jkb237-I'm glad you liked the different point of views, thanks so much! Yeah, it's fine for not reviewing, the gods know I don't all the time –grins sheepishly-**

** Queen of True Love-thank you, sorry for the wait!**

** Malabsorbent-thanks! I'm so happy that you like it!**

** pinkcatheaven-I updated as fast as I could, sorry for the cliffie!**

** Andie-that really means a ton, mucho thank yous! Haha, I've done that sometimes (stayed up till one on a school night… oops.) That's really great to hear, though. So I'll stop rambling and let you read on!**

You know you're in trouble when you see a small, dark object streaking through the air towards you at over one hundred miles per hour, give or take.

"Drop, Angel!" I screamed, even though our wings were already folding to fall toward the desert below us like rocks. Her face, streaming with tears from the force of wind, was twisted with concentration as she dove for her life, clutching Total to her chest. But pretty soon, and I mean, two seconds later, because things with missiles tend to happen pretty dang quick, things began to change. Obviously, as one tends to do, we had tried to avoid the direct path, but the direct path was quickly changing.

_It's heat seeking, Ang._ I realized grimly. _Turn off left-stay close. _

Angel obeyed these orders without question, gathering her wings up from underneath her and immediately spinning up and away from me and the missile. Quickly, before whatever sick machinery it was made up of picked up her movement, I dodged in it's path, then to the south and away from Angel. The wind roared in my ears, I had no idea how fast I was moving, but I knew it wasn't fast enough as I turned and saw it-literally-feet from my face. That was when I decided super-speed would be a prime decision, and I turned upward in a direct ninety degree angle.

I knew I couldn't out-fly it for long, so I took it for a spectacular show of loop-the-loops and spirals right in front of the helicopter, which had to slide to a mid-air halt as I kept the missile encircling it close enough for them to be unable to move forward, backward, north, south, down, up, in short, anywhere. They weren't going anywhere if I had anything to say about it, and in the meantime I was nearly hit as Angel's voice boomed in my mind.

I just managed not to swear in front of an impressionable eight year old and drag the heat seeker upwards.

_Little busy, Ang. _I thought tensely. _What?_

_ I made a-_

_ Fang, please, you're freaking me out. He's backing off now._

_ Sorry, Gaz. _

_ You made a mind link? _That last one was mom, and I was nearly hit again as I exhaled heavily with relief. They were all there, all somewhat safe. I could feel the six presences in my mind like body heat.

_Pretty cool, isn't it? And Max is infuriating the EM's, so they stopped bothering Fang._

_ The what? _I managed, dipping again before the chopper could explode. The thing I was attempting was an incredibly intricate process, seeing as the helicopter was a major source of heat. I'd have to swerve very closely to keep it aimed on me. If it went for the helicopter, I'd have to pray that these EM's knew how to deactivate it, and I couldn't trust my family's lives on that.

_Yeah, what are EMs? And how are you, Max? _That was Nudge, worried.

_Elite Men, what these things are called._

_ Hardly 'elite,' if they'd hurt children. _

Mom's comment stung, even if she hadn't meant it. It was my fault that she even had to say that. If these 'Elite Men' had hurt my family in any way, I would personally be sure to push them out of the helicopter _without _wings.

_I'm all right, thanks, Nudge. _I assured her. _Just… kinda busy._

_ You guys are louder than a chatroom. _Iggy grumbled. _Who cares what they're called? Can we get out of these things and grind them to dust now? _

_ Dibs._

_ How are we getting out? _Ella ventured cautiously after hearing what Fang had thought so coldly, not that I blamed him.

_Working on it. Fang please don't bait them into killing you, that'd kinda suck. Ella, mom, nothing personal, but how are you alive?_

Ella mentally shrugged, then winced as I watched through her eyes and saw me spin, feet away from the missile that was currently preoccupying most of my attention.

_They thought she was you. _Mom informed me. _I'm not sure that they were briefed very well-_

_ Yeah, I didn't put up as much of a fight as you would have._

_ You had a rock._

_ Which fell out of my hand, Fang._

_ You tried, though. _Iggy tried to reassure her, even though we could all hear her fear in her mind. The thing about mind links, was that no direct thoughts or feelings were private… I wasn't sure how I felt about that, yet. I had enough voices in my head.

_Max, please don't hurt yourself. _That was mom, worried sick as she also watched through the windows and saw the blur that was me. I was about to reply, but a voice that wasn't any of ours drove through my mind like a two-by-four.

"_YOU!" _It screamed in somebody's head. Immediately, even though there was nothing touching my throat, I felt as if I was in a dream state and something was tightening their hold on my neck. I had to concentrate just to breathe, confused, because I was having no problems except for the fact that I thought that there was no air reaching my lungs. From my family, I could hear thoughts of surprise and panic as they experienced the same feelings I did, and I had to force myself forward again and away from the missile.

_Angel, _Fang's mental voice was commanding, but there was an edge of anger to his tone, even if it wasn't directed at us. _Break the mind link._

There was no hesitation on Angel's part, but suddenly I felt incredibly alone as all the background babble from the others evaporated, and the mental hand around my neck disappeared. Meaning that, judging by Fang's reaction, someone was trying to strangle him.

Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but when I realize that one of my Flock members is being chortled while they are in a position that they can't fight back, I get a little angry/scared/worried, but mostly just really _ticked off _at whoever is doing it.

These EM's were screwed. I would make sure of it.

**Fang's Point of View**

One clawed hand wrenched the door to my crate open, and before I could even react, the other had grabbed me around the neck and yanked me out of the cage. The dull scrape of my wings on the metal was nothing as the fingers tightened their hold on my neck, but the EM or whatever it was called had made a mistake.

Maybe they underestimated the effect that our childhood had on us, or what it felt like to be kidnapped and shoved in a dog crate. Either way, they sure as hell didn't realize how far I was willing to go to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. Without thinking, I had swung my feet up to catch the beast right in the chin, spinning his head around like a hand on a clock. Spitting out a feral snarl, the hand on my neck strengthened it's hold, and the wall connected with my back as it slammed me against the side of the helicopter.

Dimly, I could hear the others shouting around me, but I couldn't breathe, and as much as I hated it, that was taking away all common sense. I knew I needed to concentrate, but my body thought something else as I squirmed and made every effort to escape.

Dark spots appeared in my vision, and it seemed that all I could see were the bloodshot eyes inches from my face, so I did the only logical thing left and jabbed him right there.

The effect was instantaneous and I dropped to the ground as the monster shrieked in agony, blindly lunging for me. Quickly, I spun my foot to catch his ankle and send him slamming to the floor, and I was already whaling on every inch of his body that I could reach as it leapt to his feet again. My breathe whooshed out when he caught me in the chest with a booted foot, and I felt myself fly through the air (without wings) and into a cage. Judging by the sound they made, it was probably either Ella or Nudge's cage, and without thinking, I slammed down on the lock and braced my feet against the cage to launch myself at the creature, pushing it away.

"Open the other cages!" I yelled to Ella, catching sight of her just as it grabbed my ankle. Pain shot up through my leg as if I had been electrocuted, only increasing to sharp jabs as it shook me back and forth. Blindly, I threw my fist at him and couldn't believe my luck as I caught him square in the nose, and again I was dropped to the ground.

"Fang, duck!"

I didn't have time to figure out who had warned me, but after living with Iggy and the Gasman for ten years or so, you get used to ducking first and asking questions later. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a bomb that Iggy tossed at the monster, and he instead threw himself at it's head in a moment of distraction. Without thought, I lunged for it's feet, yanking them out from underneath him but barely enjoying the satisfaction of watching his head his a hard metal crate before his foot flew up, bringing stars to my eyes.

"Nudge!" Iggy screamed to her. "Open the side door!"

_And pray that he doesn't have wings. _I thought grimly, attempting to ignore the throbbing pain in my foot and bringing my fist down on his ribcage. Iggy grabbed his arms roughly, probably snapping a few fingers in the process, and began to push him toward the steadily opening hatch. Feet from the exit, though, it twisted his torso, slamming a knee into Ig's head and this time it was he who was sent rolling across the tiny compartment. In one slick movement, he had jumped to his feet and had those awful claws reaching for Gazzy, crouching in the corner and trying to undo Dr. M's lock.

Adrenaline Rush; noun; when you no longer feel pain and fling yourself at an enemy, an inch from the Gasman's neck, and with the monster still in your grip, fall out a wide open door.

**Ella's Point of View**

_"FANG!" _I screamed, lunging toward the empty space he had been a moment before, only to have Nudge push me back. For an eleven year old, she was awfully strong as she shoved me back toward mom in the back of the compartment. The Gasman had successfully unlocked her, and he herded both of us back into the same corner he had been occupying moments before.

"Ella!" Iggy whipped around, clearing the distance of the storage compartment in one bound, and suddenly all I could see were his sightless eyes as he grabbed my shoulders and shook my gently. "He has wings, he'll be fine. You stay right here with Gaz, Nudge and I are gonna make sure nobody else causes problems."

"It was so _awful!_" I couldn't help the dry sob that escaped me, clutching my head as the scene replayed in my mind. Fang ripped from the crate by his throat and the battle I had watched helplessly that most definitely had been one to the death. "That… that… thing! And, and, Fang's sick, he can't deal with this right now, we're supposed to be at home!"

"Shh…" Dimly, I felt Iggy rubbing my shoulders and pulling me toward him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, trying so, so hard not to burst into tears right in front of him.

"Gaz, take the fire extinguisher and that lighter up front." Iggy's voice was calm as he issued orders around me. "You know what to do with it. Nudge, use your skill to put this thing on autopilot and try to land. Dr. M, close that thing just wide enough for Fang to fly back through, if need be."

All this was background noise to my ears, all I felt was Iggy rubbing my back and holding me close. With his touch, I felt safe. As if this terrible nightmare would just pass around us like those freak tornadoes that miss one house in a city of destruction.

"Fang's dealt with worse." He assured me. "He's a mad flyer, he'll be fine. Heck, if Max is smart she'll use the bad guy to blow up that heat seeking missile and she, Fang, and Ang will be here momentarily. Then we'll land this sucker, probably blow it up, and get you home to your Disney movies, books, and loads and loads of hot chocolate."

I sniffed once, not replying. My eyes were still shut tight despite the pain in my face as I buried my head in his shoulder. All that seemed so petty now, now that I'd seen Fang leap so quickly into fight-to-the-death mode. Fang, who I had seen make goo-goo eyes at my sister without realizing it. Fang, who I had seen smile when he let his guard down and lick ice cream off his nose. Fang, who held Angel on his lap until she fell asleep and didn't dream of crazy barbers with silver knives. I could barely imagine the effect their lives must have had on them, because Fang had to be like that to live. I had heard things, seen videos, but never before had I realized so first hand how quickly the Flock had to snap from carefree into hardened fighters. Then there was Iggy, now holding me so tenderly, as if I was a piece of expensive China that might break. I had seen him break the thing's fingers without a second thought, just to defend the rest of us.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, the words sounding hoarse. "You should be-"

"Nudge and Gaz can handle it." He assured me quietly. "Don't worry. I'm right here. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"But they're… eleven! And eight! But-"

"They'll be back any minute now." He continued to whisper comfortingly in my ear. "I can already feel the helicopter evening out, which means they've succeeded and that Max has lead the heat seeker elsewhere." He waited, paying close attention to something above the roar of the chopper, and then I could feel him grin. "I can hear Fang flying back now. He's-"

And then the very air shook as we were flung apart with the force of the missile finally hitting something, and I didn't bother clutching my bleeding forehead after slamming into a free-falling crate, because I had no idea of knowing what it had hit.


	44. Different Colors

**Chapter Forty-Four**

** Okay, I have no good reason for not updating since Thanksgiving save writers block and a ton of effing schoolwork, but I really need this financial aid so I can stay at my private school. Not that the public school in my town is bad, but, well… lets just say I have two doors open, but one may be closing but I'd really rather it didn't. The closing door leads outside (where I love to be) and the other to a parking lot. I can play tag in a parking lot, but I'd rather not be there. Anyway, I'm rambling and loading all this crap on you, and its not even that bad, I shouldn't even be complaining. I'm very lucky. Speaking of which-my prayers go out to Haiti and everyone else who needs them. But since I haven't updated since November, I'm gonna get to thanking all my awesome readers and then to chapter forty-four. **

** ReadiN'LuvR-I'm glad you appreciated the Harvard thing (and everything else, thanks a ton), but the sweatshirt came up in my rambling thoughts and I don't know if I did that chapter to the best of my ability, but I did like writing it out. Thanks!**

** Bubbley-chan-never fainted either, knock on wood, but thanks for the review!**

** Wow, blast, Surreptitiously Anonymous, I haven't updated since you said you might die if I didn't update soon and that was 11-24-2009 so I really hope you're not dead. If you are, I hope you can read this!**

** Dibs on Fang He's So Hot-I'll most definitely have some Fang POV's coming up, and I don't know about Angel, but I'll try to work it in. Thanks.**

** Queen of True Love-thanks a bajillion, Queen. Sorry about the cliffie, I really meant to update in like, three days, but I had a severe case of writers block and a load of bad excuses. **

** pinkcatheaven-heh, not really… personally I hate cliffies, and I did mean to update, but I will update by next Sunday so I'll try to make up for it! **

** Rainie16-thanks for the review and sticking with this! I remember you were an early reviewer (as for anyone who has also stuck with it, that goes for you, too.) And yes, Ella is gonna learn quite a few things about the Flock coming up.**

** indescriable destruction-yes, I'm thinking some Eggy's gonna show up sooner or later. You'll find out! **

** Winged-Vamp-Tokio Hotel=Awesomeness. I love Bill's hair, even if it is a little off kilter! Thanks for the review.**

** I Talk A Lot-thanks, reviews really make my day :D**

** girludontknow-haha, good point, especially in the enemy-butt-kicking brigade.**

** Loves-James-yes, that does, and that really makes my day that you think so! **

** death-wow, serious thanks going your way, jazz. I'm awful at updating (as you probably noticed) but hey, New Year's Resolution?**

** adsgdsg-heh heh-sorry about the wait.**

** THECROW-wow, thanks :D**

** Fang'ssupersexy-I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for the double review!**

** Yreva13-oh, good, you only reviewed a few days ago so hopefully I haven't disappointed too many people. Thanks for the review and have a good remainder of January!**

** WishingToBeWinged-I share the feeling :D**

** Star Starer of Moonlit Skies-oh, yeah, there aren't going to be any good scientists in this story! I hate those sadistic lunatics. Thanks for multiple reviews and even reading!**

** GeraniumRose-that really just completes my day to read, seriously. Thanks to the Max. Haha, bad pun there. Anyway, Ella isn't going to have a meager role! I really like her character (even if I elaborated some points here and there or something). Oh, and I'm totally in love with PJO and HP, too (because I'm a total creeper and looked at your profile thanks to your awesome review). Enjoy the chapter!**

**Without further ado and/or waiting…**

**Chapter Forty-Four-Max's Point of View**

"Gross. Gross. Gross. Ultra, supremo, effing _gross." _I blanched, wiping my blood soaked hands on my jeans, which didn't help whatsoever. I could feel various body fluids saturating my hair and dribbling into my ears and wiped my eyelids on the inside on my shirt to be sure I didn't get any essence of EM in my eyes. Then I glanced at Fang, racing alongside me with a chunk of bloodied, scorched shirt tucked in a wing and hair caked with dirt, ash, and the same rusty stuff that covered me. Luckily, the helicopter was still stationary, and despite the gunk in our wings, it didn't take long to catch up.

"I so call the shower." Fang muttered, voice carrying even as he spit something out of his mouth. I prayed it was a tooth knocked loose, for his sake. Angel darted over to our side, eyeing us with distaste, and gestured to the chopper.

"Ella got the others free, they took care of the rest of the baddies." She grinned. "Apparently only two others took the helicopter, the rest drove, so it was easy-peasy."

I exhaled in relief, grabbing onto the landing gear and scrambling up the side of the machine until I got to the semi-open door and crawled in.

"Don't hug them." Angel warned, slipping in aside us. "They've tested a new perfume."

"Oh God," I moaned, holding my breath. "I smell so disgusting I think I might puke."

"You blew up the heat seeker with the bast-er, EM that grabbed Fang?" Iggy looked up at us with a wicked grin.

"Yep." I attempted to shake my wings out with a grimace, than noticed the way my sister clung to him like life support. I didn't think much of it, aside the fact that it was pretty great that they were such good friends. But I did eye both my sister and mom in concern. I mean, they'd been kidnapped, beat up, shoved in crates, and kidnapped by monsters in a helicopter all in the space of an hour or so. Sure, so had Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and the Gasser, but they were used to it. Plus, Ella's face has been sliced up somehow (arousing an angry monster in my chest) and mom was covered with dust, not to mention her swollen eye.

"Nudge?" I addressed the technology-friendly girl. "Why don't you and Gaz go try and figure out how to land this thing?"

"Sure, Max." She grinned at me, wiping a smudge of blood from her nose with her sleeve. "Thanks for coming back for us."

"Anytime." I tried not to choke on my word as she skipped off to the front of the helicopter with Gazzy (who wouldn't let go of his sister's hand). They left the connector door open, and I could hear the muted clatter as they made their way to the front of the abnormally large machine. Assured that everything was in decent shape, I collapsed to the floor and leaned back against the wall wearily. As the adrenaline wore off, I realized how gosh darned exhausted I was. That's the problem with these kind of rushes-you're high, and then you fall real fast like a birdkid without wings. Fang seemed to waver at the thought of rest, but instead stood and used the wall to support his weight. Across the compartment, Iggy set Ella down to sit on a cage and sat down next to her, breathing heavily.

"Fang?" Mom asked hesitantly. Her eyes flicked to Ella once, but content that she was in good hands, continued to stare at Fang. I glanced at him, saw him twitch his foot. He was obviously (to me) uncomfortable with the expression on my mom's face.

When he didn't respond, she sighed and made do with what she could. "I want to thank you for how you acted earlier, back in the desert. If I listened, maybe we wouldn't be here. I should have trusted your judgment, but I appreciate-"

"It's nothing." He was examining his sneakers closely, black hair in his face as he avoided mom's gaze. She glanced at me, as if to confirm that this was how he always acted, and I nodded encouragingly.

"It's _not _nothing." She assured him. "I just thought I'd let you know. I appreciate the lengths you all go to keep the rest of us safe. That goes for you as well, Iggy. You are both extraordinarily brave and selfless, and I admire you for that."

Ig blushed tomato red.

"How is everyone?" I asked to the group in general, trying to relieve Fang from the obvious unwanted attention. Not that Iggy liked it, but he dealt with it better, and I knew how much Fang hated stuff like that. "Nothing serious, I take it? Fang, I expect you to actually participate."

Iggy snorted, glancing in my general direction with a knowing look.

"I'm a little jarred, but okay." Mom assured me. "The kids are all right from what I gathered-just some scratches, I think."

"Yeah, I'm good." Iggy nodded, but had only eyes (theoretically) for Ella, who's knuckles were white as she gripped the bars of the cage tightly. Her face was bloody, but the cuts looked shallow and probably wouldn't scar if she was careful. If not… she could say she was kidnapped by pirates. It was close enough to the truth. Personally, I was more worried about her emotional state.

She shuddered once, then glanced up and smiled half-heartedly at me. "You guys stink."

I couldn't help laughing, immensely relieved that she was okay, but still feeling the nagging tug in my gut that this was my fault. We shouldn't have stayed so long, I knew it. I _knew _it, and now look at what happened.

"I think I'm okay." Fang muttered, voice hoarse, and it took me a moment to remember that he was still sick and probably should have been on medicine. When mom suggested it, though, he had been so insistent to not have any that no one had argued. He wiped his running nose with the neckline of his shirt.

"Dr. M should check on his leg." Iggy supplied when Fang didn't offer anything else, despite my best glare. "The EM yanked it around pretty good."

"Just twisted ankle." He muttered, not meeting anybodies eyes and looking out the small window. As if to prove it, he limped across the compartment and broke open a little whitecoat tool kit or something that was nailed to the wall just under a sign that read "Emergency Exit." I watched him rifle through, find a hammer, and begin to slowly take apart the silver crates with blank eyes devoid of all emotion. Silently, I got to my feet and helped him rip each side of the boxes from each other, so we were soon surrounded by stacks of them.

"Dismemberment of the Crates." Iggy grinned. "I like it. Did you save me any parts of that missile?"

"Heck no." I rolled my eyes. "But I think we have some intestines left over if you're looking for those. Just kidding!" I added, catching mom's disapproving expression and ripping off the top of another crate. Really, she's totally cool with being kidnapped but can't stand for rudeness. Best mom ever, because who can stand for rudeness? Which is sort of hypocritical for me to say, seeing as I can be really obnoxious to those who deserve it.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the typical landing scenario or Iggy and Gazzy managing to _incinerate _the helicopter as soon as I turned my back. Suddenly, there was just this heavy groan, a few squeaks, a rush of heat, and it just wasn't there anymore. Needless to say, I was gonna tan their hides as soon as I found time.

"Max?" Angel linked her arm in mine, staring at the dark dip in the sandy desert that was the only thing left of the aerodynamic prison. "What are we going to do now?"

The answer came readily to my tongue. "Make sure that mom and Ella are safe, then split. We've been here way too long. See anything?" I glanced at Fang, standing on a rock formation and looking out at the desert. He blinked a no, but continued to survey the miles and miles he could see with his raptor eyesight.

"I'm wondering where the others went."

I raised my eyebrows.

He clarified. "There were many more than those on the helicopter, probably took the trucks back to their base or another meeting point."

"Maybe they airlifted out?" Nudge suggested, brushing off her jeans which made no difference whatsoever. "You know? Since we're near an airport, they could've driven there to a waiting plane or something."

"Yeah," I muttered, deeply disturbed. "Or something. So… EM's?"

She nodded seriously. "Elite Men. Originally they were called Enhanced Men but they figured that was too long, and didn't make sense. These aren't men that are made better, they're just… the best. That's what I picked up on. They combined the predatory habits and morphing abilities from Erasers, the improvements of the Flyboys like being robotic, but they're able to think for themselves. They're like… a robot mind in a human body. So I can hear their thoughts, but what they do is programmed so I can't control them… Does that make sense?"

"Not in the slightest. Good job." Iggy rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Sounds like the sort of sick thing a whitecoat would do." Gazzy shrugged, trying to sound offhand but still looking very shaken after being shoved in a crate.

"How's your neck, Fang?" Mom called up to him, still scanning the horizon. His eyes flicked toward her once, he shrugged, and leapt back down.

"Airport's most logical explanation."

"But these are whitecoat spawn." Ella reminded us, shivering once but seeming to be getting over the shock. "Now, I'm not an expert on this stuff, but it doesn't have to be logical."

"Or they could've entered some portal in the ground." Total offered cheekily. "I've always been a fan of Sci-Fi films."

"I thought you hated Sci-Fi." Angel plucked him off the ground. "You're always ranting about Kyle XY."

"I don't like Kyle XY, but I believe that properly researched shows and movies with scientific backgrounds can be incredibly stimulating. I'll have to introduce you to some of my favorites sometime."

Naturally, Angel agreed. I rolled my eyes.

"Angel," I addressed her briskly. "Was that coincidence or were they looking for us?"

"Coincidence." She assured me, completely confident in her answer. "They were thinking that they were extremely lucky. They were actually out for a test run, to work out a few kinks. They have no idea that Dr. M and Ella live in a twenty mile radius. They just think they're two people we picked up along the way, and they weren't sure if they're mutants or not."

This was a relief to hear, but I still felt nervous at the thought of sending Ella and mom home with no way to contact us incase they needed to.

"Alright." I clapped my hands together, gaining everyone's attention. "Unless you're about to drop dead, which would be really problematic, we need to get back to town. They won't attack us in public, but they'll be on watch. Try to spruce yourselves up a bit on the way."

"Like this?"

I couldn't help paling. Angel still creeped me out a little with her ability to strengthen and lengthen her hair, turning into a chocolaty brown and switching her eyes from baby blue to deep hazel. She even managed to drop a few inches to normal seven year old height. Weird.

"Sure, but unless any of us mutated again it's not gonna happen."

"Show-off." The Gasman grumbled. "Can Fang go invisible? I always feel like I'm in some spy movie when he does that."

I couldn't help the smirk, looking at Fang over Gazzy's head. He rolled his eyes, then disappeared completely from sight. Iggy hummed the Mission: Impossible theme song. Mom told him that he was getting the notes wrong.

We had only gone about twenty steps when Fang spoke.

Actually, the more appropriate term would have been 'choked.' "Max."

His voice was so quiet, and when we stopped I could hear him gasping for air. I whipped around to him, stationed as a guard in back of our group as he came into view again. Dark eyes rolling, knees shaking, his mouth opened soundlessly once, twice, before he finally muttered,

"Anesthesia." And collapsed to the ground with an empty syringe rolling across the dirt ground. Things pretty much just went downhill from there.

I _still _don't know how the EM's managed to conceal themselves so completely, but as soon as Fang lost consciousness, we were under attack. They weren't even noble and brave EMs, instead choosing to shoot darts at my group and watch us faint. This was all in the space of the few seconds that I managed to keep my eyes open before succumbing to the numbing darkness.

*******

**Ella's Point of View**

I'd seen Fang in an array of colors before, if you understand the metaphor. No way would I ever actually catch him wearing anything other than black, but emotions speak for themselves.

Usually, Fang is a nice shade of grey. Agreeable, somewhat quiet, nice in his own way but not standing out like canary yellow or a deep red. Sometimes his color would lighten (usually when Max was nearby, or when he was hanging with the Flock) or darken (like after watching his younger self be torture endlessly and wake riddled with nightmares), but it usually stayed in the same color range.

Then there was a sort of blue-green-grey, when Fang was completely at peace. Now, I don't live with him, nor have I known him for very long, but I know that he rarely shows off his ocean colors. This tends to pop up after dinner when he, Max, and Iggy and sometimes the younger Flock members, are dozing off and completely relaxed in the dying Arizona sun. He could be his ocean when he listened to music with Max and I'd occasionally hear a quiet laugh. When Fang was the ocean, you knew you'd be okay.

A calmer blue, like that of the ocean on a calm day contrary to a winter one, was when he was utterly and truly happy. It usually showed up after flights or when he was with Max. I loved it when he was calm blue.

I'd rarely experienced purple, which is when he faded into anger, but he concealed that well. I marveled at my sister being able to just look at him and know what he was thinking.

I'd never seen this muddy mixture before I woke, groggily blinking my eyes awake after the tranquilizer finally wore off. His cage, tiny but bigger than the eensy one of the helicopter, was pushed into the corner of the unfurnished and square white room. Mom was sitting cross-legged a few feet away from him, and I a foot or so from her. She was the picture of ease to outsiders, but I knew that look in her eyes: calculating. She was worried, maybe a little scared, pissed off, and thinking.

Fang didn't notice me waking up, or didn't acknowledge it. His muddy brown was a mixture of anger, fear, confusion, pain, and utter hatred. I'd never seen him look so conflicted over emotions before. Sure, maybe whether to have chocolate or caramel syrup on his pancakes (he usually decided on both), but he was usually very basic with his emotions. I knew how rarely he felt, or even acted, like this, and as his ocean blue just instilled calm in the rest of us, this new color seemed to make my heart constrict and my brain jump to mega-alert.

_I had been kidnapped._

By mutant-dog-wolf-camera guy-monsters, no less. At least they weren't rapists. That I knew of.

I wasn't going to be getting up tomorrow morning to the sound of the Top 20 on the radio and hurrying to school to get some extra vocabulary study in before classes. I wasn't going to be having practice with Mei, Celine, and Belle. I wasn't going to be giggling about the movie stars in Celine's magazines or decided whether I wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a peanut butter and pretzel and chocolate chip one. I was stuck in a crate, in a large, sterile room that reminded me too much of the morgue on _CSI: New York_ with my mother and the Flock, the only ones I trusted to ever get me out of such a situation. But they were as much a part of this as I was, and less than half of us were accounted for. This was not helping my nerves. It was beyond me-I had known the Flock was often in danger, and my mom had been kidnapped before, but somehow I never felt like I'd be in the same position.

I wondered if it was worse for the Flock-who probably knew everything about wherever we were, or for mom who knew what kidnapping could be like, too, or me, who had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Fang?" It was slightly calming to find that I was embaressed by the quaver in my voice. God, they must have all thought I was a complete wuss. I blushed at the memory of sobbing into Iggy's chest back on the helicopter, but concentrating too much on before the drugs hurt my head, and I concentrated on catching Fang and my mom.

His eyes had flickered when I had spoken, but he didn't pull his knees out from underneath his chin or respond in any way whatsoever. Mom looked up, relieved, and offered me a weak smile. I attempted to return it, with a pathetic result.

"Where are we?"

"Well, if we're in the desert, there's some serious air conditioning going on." Mom said lightly. "But as of exactly, I'm not sure. Fang," She turned to him kindly. "You need to stop hyperventilating, I'm not sure if this room is airtight or not and if it is you're using too much oxygen."

I didn't know if he had registered her words until full minute later when he managed to fill his lungs. I could hear him draw the raspy breath, concentrating on my mom's words.

"It's not."

"What? In the desert?"

"Airtight."

"Oh." I got to my knees and got a 360 view of the room. It didn't take long. "That's a relief."

Fang almost rolled his eyes, but gave up halfway through.

I remembered how when Fang was unresponsive Max only got angry when she had really lost her temper and usually continued to talk until she got the information she wanted or decided she didn't feel like it. They usually didn't have to resort to that, I noticed.

"Do you know where we are, Fang?"

He shrugged. "Not exactly."

"Any guesses?" Mom egged, clearly catching on to what I was doing. Unfortunately, so did Fang and he sighed heavily, meeting my eyes before resuming his position tucked up against the back of the cage with his head on his knees, looking straight into the wall ahead as if he had laser vision. Who knows? Maybe he did.

"Two."

"Care to-"

"Least likely would be the Institute, that's in New York City. We'd have to be knocked out a good twenty hours if they got us separated and in cages there. You know if you've been knocked out twenty hours, but there's always the chance." I waited patiently for him to get to more likely. When Fang chooses to elaborate on a point-especially when you're kidnapped-it's a wise decision to listen. But he took another shuddering breath and seemed to shrink even smaller.

"How positive are you about choice one then?" Mom asked, prodding him slightly with her gentle tone. He closed his eyes.

"Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent sure."

"Where?" If he was reverting to one-phrase answers, I was gonna wait for one question at a time. I thought he was blocking us out until he murmured two words that sent shivers down my spine.

"The School."

**Hey, guys, I'm not sure if I'm gonna end this now after all. I was planning on making the sweet one with the videos then the capture, but they sorta melded into one. But there will be a sequel! Just not as soon as you may think.**

**Peace out and happy almost February!**

** -ivyflightislistening**


	45. After Affects of Anesthetic

**Chapter Forty-Five**

** So guys…. First of all, I know I said I'd update next Sunday, but this one also ends in a cliffie and I was trying to do another chapter to update with it, so you wouldn't have to end with that. I had some writer's block, so I'm just doing this one and trying to scribble the next down because my writer's block is over, thanks the gods. Thanks for sticking with me though, and please read the quick author's note at the bottom.**

** GeraniumRose-I know, right? That's the great thing about having an account on here; we're all creepers anyway! Haha. Yes, **_**Artemis Fowl **_**and **_**Golden Compass**_** are both wins in my opinion, though I never got through **_**The Subtle Knife **_**and never started the third. Thanks a billion, Rose! I will update faster this time. On my honor.**

** Bubbley-chan-ha, I'm a Captain Jack fan all the way. I used to be able to quote entire scenes of the first movie, but I didn't like the second two as much and fell out of the habit. I'll try to fit more humor in, any critique is welcome.**

** kray-thanks for telling me, I'll try to fix that up.**

** booklover3195-no problem, I often only review the last chapter I read at a time, but thanks!**

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-thanks for reviewing and the tips.**

** ReadiN'LuvR-haha, yes, it's true. Sorry about Ella's point of view, I'll address it at the end of the chapter, but thanks for the review! **

**Ella's Point of View (hopefully, this will be the last one for a while, I don't like writing in Ella's POV very much. It's good for an outsider opinion, though.**

It was in extreme relief two hours later (by mom's watch) that a set of doors slid open like a Jedi using the force with about as much noise and Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel clutching Total where wheeled into our rooms by short little robots looking like members of _Wall-E _that left in the same silent manner they had entered. Sarcasm and any other weapon besides a gun would be wasted on those little do-gooders. However, once they left there was quiet a bit of "what-happened-to-you", "did-they-do-anything-to-you?", "I-think-I'm-gonna-be-sick", and "at-least-we-know-where-we-all-are-now"'s. Well, everyone except for Max which stuck out like a yodeler in school. But for the first five minutes or so, mostly everyone was content to try and talk their fears away. Mom reached her hand into Gaz and Angel's cage and took their hands and Nudge took their other hand. Iggy managed to scrape his cage over toward me and nodded, clearly relieved that I was accounted for. I'll be honest, even in that hellhole of a situation, I felt very good at that. Iggy was really great-funny, kind, strong-um, well, anyway, I considered him a close friend and it felt good at being included. I was glad he was okay, too.

But eventually we got around to matters we really didn't want to discuss.

"Do you guys know where Max is?" Ig asked me, though his eyes didn't stay trained in my general direction as they usually did when he talked to me. "We were separated."

"No idea."

His eyes narrowed in thought, and he didn't say anymore, sitting back and leaning against the wall of his cage. Fang was the only one who hadn't said a word, besides nodding to each of the other members of his Flock. Finally, the quiet talking subsided and, aside from our breathing in the thankfully not airtight room, it was dead quiet. For half an hour (which I hadn't thought possible when they were awake) the entire Flock minus one was silent until the doors brushed open again, and an elderly man strode forward.

Flanking him were two of the mini-robot things, shaped like boxes on wheels, but they carried note cards, pens, and paper behind him and probably had a load of sadistic research stored away inside of them. The man was of average height and I didn't recognize him from any of the videos, with closely shaved grey hair and a trimmed beard. When his eyes roved around the room hungrily, I was surprised to see how normal they looked. I wondered how many times he had hit his head as a child or how many drugs he had inhaled before signing up for that white coat he wore like a king's robes. He muttered quietly to himself in a voice I would have labeled as that of a kind old man, had it not been for where he currently was. The rest of us were so quiet, though, we could hear him clearly.

"Subject Eleven-heard about it, though I never got to test it myself." He mused, eyes staring Angel down until she spat at him. He raised an eyebrow, made a note on a clipboard, and continued to talk quietly about the rest of us.

"Subject Ten-major intestinal problems, nothing a little surgery won't fix," Gazzy went sickly pale at that, and I swore Iggy nearly grew fangs in anger. "Subject Seven, relatively good health," Nudge flinched. "As is three, aside from his eyesight."

"'Thanks to you, you screw up."

"And Subject Two has anger issues!" The whitecoat smirked, turning to Fang with a cruel smile making me confused at how I had ever thought he could be kind. "And we have two guests… Subject One's family. I looked at One's record."

_Max was the first? _I couldn't help wondering. It had been stressed so many times how dangerous the mixing of species could be, and it seemed amazing that they could ever get it right the first try. Amazing in a gross and cruel way.

_She wasn't the first first. _Angel broke into my thoughts with a slightly uncomfortable feeling, as if she was standing very close. _Just the first that lived. They didn't mess around with Max._

"And I assume you're wondering where your dear Subject One 10442gjl113 is-"

"Her name is Max." I nearly hit my head on the roof of my cage as Fang snarled, breaking the near silence with an icy tone that froze my bones. "And we're not number sequences, either."

The whitecoat didn't respond to Fang directly, but walked straight up to his cage and looked down into Fang's eyes. Despite Fang being locked in a crate and pretty much at the evil guy's mercy, he met his eyes with challenge and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of his anger.

The whitecoat's eyes roamed over Fang, like he was sizing a pig up for slaughter.

"Obvious schizophrenia issues, I'll make note of that. Sullen and quiet with random bouts of uncontrolled anger. We can find an IV and some extra drugs to subdue it. Don't worry," He addressed Fang with a false sweetness in his tone. "We'll have you fixed up in no time."

That prompted shouts of all kind and lots of banging on cages and it was probably good the whitecoat didn't hear the exact words so he couldn't punish us all with a reason, but he got the general idea. This seemed to tick him off for some reason. They could trap us in cages and take our freedom, but they'd certainly never be able to truly break the Flock. Still, I couldn't help my mouth drying in fear as he smiled a typical mad scientist smile.

"You won't all be so confident without your fearless leader, will you?" I flinched as he reached into a pocket, thinking of guns, but it was just some sort of remote control. I definitely wasn't reassured when he clicked it and one of the little robots somehow dimmed the lights and the other projected a blue screen onto the wall with some text reading "waiting for signal."

"'Course we will." Iggy brushed the comment off, but I saw through his act. He was scared, and completely unaware of the screen. "Where do you think she learned everything?"

"Jeb Batchelder."

"Stalker." Gazzy muttered, earning a few twitches of the lip.

"No," The whitecoat turned to Gazzy, and the air nearly sparked with the tension. I felt ready to claw off the bars of the cage and get at him, how dare he look at the Gasman that way? The others seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Iggy's fingers were curled into tight fists, as if he was just longing to wrap them around the man's throat. "Just well informed. If only you had been so, as well. Maybe your leader would be… well, lets just say, she'd be faring much better if she had intelligence like my own. Cubic 72," He turned to address the little box with the blue projector, I assumed called Cubic 72. "Sequence 4-6-2-3, camera five. Full screen."

The little box allowed the blue screen to expand and take up an entire wall, almost like at a movie theater with the lights in the room dimming as an image was projected onto the screen and slowly came into focus. I don't know where the sound came from, but each little detail was magnified enough so that even Iggy knew what was going on.

See, the funny thing was that the scientist had made everything extra big and extra loud so we could probably watch Max be tortured while she was trapped in an identical confining cage as the rest of us, but that hadn't really worked out. For one, Max was the one standing on the outside of the cage (albeit with her wings duct taped to her back) and poking a scientist who she had somehow gotten into the cage with a stick.

Our scientist's mouth fell to the floor.

"Tell me where my Flock is." She jabbed him with the stick with each word, harder each time. The camera got a great view of her face, even fiercer than the one she used when Fang took the last cookie. It terrified the scientist in the cage, and I wasn't sure if he even gave an answer because he was stuttering so badly.

"Now, you sick-wait." She paused, the "b" on the word she had refrained from saying falling from her lips. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she broke the stick in half, tossing the shards aside before kneeling down to get a good look in her prisoner's face. "You got me here for a reason, don't you? The others are all together, aren't they?"

He peeped. She took it as assent. I would never again doubt her deductive reasoning.

"Meaning, if the videos we watched mean _anything_, I'm being watched now, aren't I? But they haven't called the alarm. That's funny. Guess you're too incompetent for them to care. They delude themselves like that quite a bit, so don't take it personally. I'm sure you aced med school. Sucks to be you. Anyway, now that I have eyewitnesses, I have to watch my language, don't I?" She nodded seriously and the dangerous look had been swept away completely as she drew pictures in the dirt next to the cage. They were the only things that I could see in the large floor. It was like an indoor arena, and with that thought I thanked whatever gods may be for Max not being the one in the cage. I'd seen the videos-who knew what the scientists had planned?

"You ever met a six-sorry-seven year old? Highly impressionable. I'd be worried about the Gasman but I can't really do much more to scar him between the School and Iggy. You could put him in a straight jacket and padded cell with a spool of yarn and he'd be able to blow something up." She smiled to herself. I had no idea where this was going and stole a quick glance around our room, but the rest of the Flock was watching the screen in earnest so I looked back again. "Eleven year olds are usually immature little fiends with a love of foul language, I'd bet, but Nudge can't stand for it. She usually helps me yell the boys out. Anyway, I'm rambling, aren't I?" She got back to her feet, dusting off her dirt covered jeans. It didn't really have much affect since they were already coated in all manner of grime, but I knew it made her feel better as she stalked to the edge of the frame and disappeared entirely. I hoped there was a door there, but judging by the looks on the others' faces, she was just stepping out of range of the camera.

We could still hear her yammering away, though. "I thought these looked pretty interesting when I came in. I mean, venomous creature crosses, am I right? Here we have a poison dart frog cross… but I think the poor guy's dead. What'd you mix him with? Ah, just kidding. A cat? That really wasn't going to work out well, I know that and I've had, like, a month of school. You're supposed to have a master's, aren't you? Ooh, a diamondback. I was bitten by one of those, you know. Totally wrecked my vacation, sorta like if a tsunami hit while you were vacationing in Mexico, you know? I bet you guys have mega salaries and go out of country for new species to torment. Or maybe you have a fee for that and just go out of country anyway, I wouldn't know seeing as I'm not a servant of Satan." She paused, and I could picture the look on her face. "Well, unless you ask Iggy after I stripped his room and flooded it to get rid of all his explosives. But I was more Satan's acquaintance, then. Oh! That's the ticket."

We could now see the whitecoat's eyes widen in fear and try to scramble as far away from Max and whatever she had uncovered as quickly as possible. Max had stopped rambling, now muttering something indistinct under her breath until finally addressing the man again. She had dropped the pleasant tone, and now her voice sent chills up my spine. It was something out of a horror movie, just the way her voice lacked all emotion except utter hatred and disgust.

"Sucks, doesn't it? Being stuck in a cage and having everyone else act as if _nothing is wrong. _I guarantee we're on a live feed right now, that quite a few whitecoats are watching, even taking pleasure in this little exchange, and yet they leave you there. Isn't it an awful feeling, knowing they don't care and that the people on the outside of your cage can do whatever the hell-sorry mom, heck-they want with you, no matter how inhumane it is? No matter how much it hurts? Doesn't it suck to be so terrified you wish for death, even if you don't believe in this thing you call heaven?"

Around his babbling, something must have kicked in the man's scientific brain and he seemed to regain a trace of dignity, enough to scold her. "You're a mutant. A reckless and messed up accident. You don't actually feel that way because you aren't capable of proper thought. These thoughts have been planted into your head from an outside source. Once you die, you will be lost to memory because _accidents_ aren't sent to heaven."

"And that, buddy of Satan, is where we disagree." Max stalked back in view with murder in her eyes and two feathers in her hands, from her own wings. That was when the scientist went wild, completely losing whatever cool he had regained with his cruelty and jabbered nonsense, backing as far away as he could, which wasn't very far. The cage was Max's size, and he was a little rounder than Max.

They say ignorance is bliss, and luckily I was on the ignorant side because I had no idea why the creature Max balanced on her feathers was so terrifying to the whitecoat in the cage, and the one in my room.

"Seems you recognize my new friend." She smiled, a frightening smile that resembled the whitecoat as it taunted Fang incredibly accurately. "Scree is a black widow human cross, as I'm sure you're aware of, and judging by the notes next to her cage, Class Five dangerous thanks to her ability to think and speak like a human, look like a spider, and still manage to produce the infamous venom of her kind."

_Speak like a human? _

"Scree's a bit, well, pissed, to be frank." Max allowed the ten legged, dish-sized, hairless creature from one feather to the other. It must have been incredibly light if the feathers could support it, but I was more preoccupied with the six bulging eyes, two swollen shut, and the oozing welts all over it's body. "Which is why, despite our new alliance, I don't really trust holding her. I think the risks outweigh the benefits, and to be honest, she doesn't think I smell very good, anyway. But if you listen very carefully, you can hear her murmuring about the way your blood pumps, the sound your heart makes and the rate it increases as you grow even more scared. If you pay attention to her, you can even hear the way she lusts for hurting you and your kind."

I trembled as Max paused, allowing the only sounds to echo around the chamber. One man's ragged breathing, and something I almost couldn't understand… dark murmurings full of loathing, it was a voice with one wish: to kill.

_Warm flesh… _I caught. _Smells hot and sticky…fresh…prey…_

"So, unless you think you can give me the coded card that opens that set of doors over there and tell me where my family is _now, _I'll let you two get acquainted. Think of it as a blind date."

The man's hands fumbled for the card attached to his belt and threw it to Max between the bars of the cage and something else, that when fluttered down, could be easily read as a map. Max picked them up patiently, but this "Scree" was quite the opposite. She leapt from feather to feather, snarling. I hadn't previously been aware that spiders could snarl. It sent shivers up my spine.

"Thank you." Max grinned at the man. "First I'd like to say, screw you. Second of all, I'd advise my family not to watch the next five minutes or so. Third of all, I'd like to rub in that you're stuck in a cage, alone and friendless because the others don't care, but I do have friends, and they need me. And, by the way, if there's a heaven, there's a hell, and I know where you'll be ending up. Between Scree and the others, I think you'll be there much sooner than you think."

As soon as she let Scree on the ground, I could hear the shatter of breaking glass, the other mutated experiments that I guessed were in the poisonous area broke out of their containers and slithered, crawled, walked, slimed, or made their way toward the scientist just as the doors slid open with gunshots vibrating the air and the same monsters that had captured us rushing in to help the whitecoat away from Scree and her friends.

Max dodged out of the way, and by the sound of her exhilarated laughter, I could tell with a renewed lightness in my heart that she had gotten out of the room that was nevertheless a cage, that she was on our way. I knew she had waited for the precise moment when she could hear others approaching-on their way to rescue the scientist-so she wouldn't be a direct murderer. It was Scree or the enemy, whichever were faster, and from there it was chance. She had risked herself for her honor, which Iggy scoffed at, but I marveled at. My sister was amazing.

Still, after hearing what he had said to my amazing sister, I hoped Scree had gotten a good poison sting in before the monsters lifted the cage and man out of there.

But that still left us with two robotic cubes that were relighting the room and extinguishing the screen and a sadistic whitecoat who looked more than happy to slaughter us all. He had frozen in the center of the room, back to the wall where the screen had been and facing the rest of us with a mad gleam in his eye.

Which, since my day hadn't been weird enough, was when the person I had thought least likely to pipe anything up shook his dark bangs out of his eyes and raised his eyebrows at the scientist.

"Yeah, so, that was cool and all, watching her beat your guy up, but when are we supposed to see her in trouble?"

_Don't taunt him!_

I winced as a sharp pain lanced across my brain, as if I had been standing right next to a speaker that had been blasting heavy rock as loud as possible, but it dulled quickly enough for me to realize Angel had sent the three words and I wasn't suffering after affects of the anesthetic.

"Because, well," Fang continued in a passive tone, now examining his dirty fingernails, the image of a bored and lazy teenager. "She took care of that for herself, didn't she? Or was that the previews." I looked over at him in wonder, thinking that maybe he was the one suffering after affects or head trauma. Hadn't Angel specifically just demanded of us all to not do exactly what Fang was up to?

"Shut up."

"Your friend didn't stand much of a chance. I suppose you did build us to be superior, but I doubt you ever truly believed that you'd succeed. I don't think you ever thought we could outmatch you. There's a name for what you have, it's called egocentricity. You really need to get over yourself because you're scientists and you should know this: the world does not revolve around you. Say it with me now. The world, c'mon now. Don't tell me you've forgotten how to speak because then I'd know you'd be egocentric _and_ a liar. Lets go, we're wasting time here and my expiration date could come up any time: The world does not revolve around you."

Yes. It was true. I'd have to break it to Max that her boyfriend was crazy and needed mental help. It was the claustrophobia, I was sure of it. He needed a vacation. If we ever got out of here.

The scientist was purple in the face, and I think he quite forgot that he was a tiny, elderly man who probably had cholesterol problems and shouldn't engage in physical activity because he lunged at Fang's cage, ignoring the shouts or the pleased look on Fang's face (suicidal, maybe?) and ripped the cage open, preparing to wrap his meaty fingers around Fang's neck and squeeze.

The thing is, Fang wasn't there anymore. Faster than I had ever seen anyone move, Fang had slithered out the minuscule gap between the whitecoat's outstretched arms and hit him on the back of the head. In the space of about twenty seconds from the moment Fang had started taunting him, the whitecoat was unconscious on the floor. My mouth fell open nearly as hard as the whitecoat had hit the ground as Fang hefted the whitecoat from the floor into the tiny cage. He locked it, brushed his hands together, and began to attempt to break the lock on Nudge's cage without saying another word or any sign to show that the last minute had happened.

"Fang," Mom finally managed to croak out. "That was… well…"

"Pretty brilliant." Nudge beamed up at him as he managed to break the lock on her cage and they moved on the Ig and the Gasman. "At first I had no idea what you were doing because Angel shouted at us not to provoke him. Sometimes anesthesia has bad side effects and I was thinking that hopefully your brain hadn't gone funny, so I'm pretty glad it hasn't."

Fang nodded once, working on mom's lock while Iggy opened mine in pretty much an unbeatable time.

"So what now?" Asked the Gasman, grabbing Angel's hand and looking up at Fang in Max's stead. "Can we go kick butt?"

"Not right now." Fang murmured. "We have two options-"

"Can you talk a little louder?" Nudge asked, not noticing that she had interrupted him until he raised his eyebrows, somehow managing to rebuke her without saying a word. Out in the hall, now that the adrenaline wore off, I could hear what sounded like an alarm, and now that I noticed, it overbore everything else.

"Cameras, Nudge." He didn't raise his voice, but judging by the rasp, I almost wondered if the cameras were an excuse. "They can't catch sound at this tone and are facing to my back-"

"How?"

He held his finger to his lips, silencing Nudge, and continued in a voice I could barely catch. "We either wait here and hope that they're concentrating on Max and not on us so they haven't noticed we've escaped. Max will make a beeline for us, bringing the army with her. Then we'll meet up and kick butt. Granted, chances are we're heavily guarded on the other side of this door, most likely with guns, and they're aware that we took out that guy over there. So when Max comes, we'll have double the enemies and-"

He froze, listening intently and making the rest of us freeze in our tracks.

"Screw it." He muttered and raised his voice. "Vara formation-three, two, one-Ella, Dr. M, in back."

I had no idea whatsoever what he was talking about, but the Flock apparently did (including the previously silent with fear Total) and mom pulled me in close behind them when Fang kicked the control key, an alarm began to ring loudly in our room, and the doors slid open. My fists were clenched, ready for action even if I had never taken a karate lesson in my life, but apparently the reinforcements were heading off Max or elsewhere, because there were only two guards and Fang and Nudge dispatched them silently. From there, I was given a brief look of what it might be like to be James Bond or some other famous international spy as we quietly stalked down the corridor.

Well, see, the only problem with our awesome plan was that Fang was snowplowed as soon as he took a step around the corner, and suddenly he was rolling across the floor with something else in tow. The rest of us sprang out of the way as Fang slammed a vague head-shaped thing into the floor and simultaneously got his leg pulled out from underneath him.

"Ack! Fang goddammit it's me!"

"Let go of my hair!"

"You practically crushed my head, you numbskull."

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't just-"

"Oh shut your trap-"

"Make me-"

"Uh, Max?" Gaz managed to relax his fighting stance and hurried into the middle of the hall, where he took a long look in each direction. "Fang? We're still in the School, you know."

"Right." Max scrambled to her feet, somewhat dizzily and surveyed the rest of us and our current situation, which summed up in one word, sucked. "Well, I would've remembered if a Certain Someone hadn't just given me a concussion-"

"Oh, speak for yourself." Fang muttered, holding his head between his hands with his eyes squeezed shut. "I think my brain just splattered against the side of my head."

"Some leaders." Iggy scoffed. "Yo, I can hear EM's coming. Plan of action?"

We all froze, listening to the alarms and the banging coming from down the hall.

Max seemed to steel herself before placing herself at the back of the group, with Fang following closely. "How about run? Like, now?"

"Good plan." Said Total, jumping into mom's arms. "You'll have to excuse me, though, my legs are a little short."

And with that, we _ran. _

**Hey guys, just a few notes here:**

** How do you feel about the way the story is going? Care? Hate it? Love it? I'm getting fewer reviews than usual and I'm just wondering if I should stay away from the action stuff or its not as good or whatever. Your input would be FABULOUS and I'm always open to new ideas, critique, anything. And I'm also planning on revising some previous chapters in my spare time, so if you want you can flip back. Or not. I'm just throwing it out there.**

** And about Ella's point of view the last chapter: In the beginning, the colors were like a metaphor, she couldn't actually feel colors. She was putting Fang's moods with certain colors as a way of description. **

** Finally, some notes on future chapters:**

** -I might bring Fang's mom back in momentarily… not going to elaborate**

** -I might bring Stripes back in for a while (if I do, she's not going to stay with the Flock, but I remember some people liked Stripes, as I hope you do because I certainly like her and I hope my OC's don't suck. Remember, suggestions always welcome.**


	46. Stalking via Intercom

**Chapter Forty. As usual, thanks to all my wonderful readers and reviewers.**

** Hey, MaxRideRox. Yeah, I had a good time thinking/writing out Max's speech to the whitecoat (I'm still not sure how she managed to get him in the cage-laughs-). And, thanks to the wonderful world of Harry Potter, I know what snog means, but yeah, I liked this part. I feel like their relationship isn't gooey, Valentine's Day-esque. Thank you!**

** Yeah, that's basically it, Jamtd. **

** lexigrrl09-I definitely am, thanks! I hope I updated soon enough.**

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-neither have I… but I'm really looking forward to it.**

** ReadiN'LuvR-I'll still have some fax in the middle of it all, don't worry. Thank you a ton, and Stripes will most def make a reappearance. **

** Glad you liked it, bb1028. **

** Charlie Ride (I like your rap, by the way :D ), and I'm continuing it to the end!**

** Random5185-thanks for your input and the review.**

** Dibs On Fang He's So Hot-mucho gracias for the multiple reviews, Random. Love it. And I love hot air balloons.**

** Rainie16-it's true, they do.**

** Evangeline the Gothic Angel-thanks!**

**Chapter Forty-Six-Max's Point of View (finally!)**

I think mapmakers purposely make their creations confusing so no one else can learn how to make them (or read them) and make their own maps, thus taking away funds from the original mapmakers. The only reason I had managed to find the relative area of my family was thanks to the room being circled in red with "AVIAN EXP." written in big letters. Unfortunately, the scientists hadn't taken it upon themselves to label "EXIT" the same way with little arrows and getaway vehicles at the end. With two wingless members, I was still working on what we were gonna do if we reached the desert outside.

_When. _I corrected myself. When we reach the desert outside.

We sprinted around another corner, Angel at the head, hopefully helping us avoid the denser populations around the school, but besides us, I only heard the alarm, so I took it as a good sign.

_Don't take anything for granted, Maximum._

I didn't bother being surprised at the Voice's unpredictable occurrences.

_Any other _useful _information?_

_ There are no good signs or bad signs here, Maximum. _It implied, much to my surprise. _You need to get out on skill alone._

"Max?" Angel called back to me, jolting me out of my head and away from the Voice, who I knew wouldn't impart any more words of wisdom. Her eyes were wide with fear. I looked up at her, stationed in front of three doors at the end of the hall. "Which way?"

I tapped Fang's shoulder, letting him know to watch behind us, and he silently hurried back down the hallway to where it split in two

"Do you hear anything? In your mind?" I clarified, pressing my ear to each of the doors, but they were all as solid and silent as the rest. Angel shook her head.

I tried the first one. Locked. Second one. Locked. Third one. Wouldn't budge.

"Ah, to hell with it." I snarled, kicking at the flimsy door handle with all my might and denting it with a resounding _crack, _and the middle door swung open shakily as if I had broken the hinges as well as the lock. I quickly glanced around the make sure Fang had noticed, but he was watching us and looking down the other hall out of the corner of his eye. I nodded, and he came running forward as I ushered Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, mom and Total, and Ella down the next blank white hallway. Fang and I followed after, urging the others on, and I wondered if we hadn't been dunked into another maze. There was just no pattern to these confusing passages.

I was about to ask Fang if he remembered or had heard anything that might help us out, but meeting his eyes, I could tell immediately he was as clueless as I

That was when Angel burst through another set of double sliding doors, only to stagger back into her brother and scream.

My heart nearly froze myself as I flung myself around the others and into the next room, ready to tear anything and everything apart, only to slip as if I had stumbled onto an ice rink. I pushed Angel back, trying not to breathe through my nose and scrambling at the walls until I regained my footing in the hallway with a floor doused in blood.

Now, lets just recap. The average human adult has about ten pints of blood in their body. A pint is about two cups. I'd been around scientists long enough to know that whenever we saw this much blood, there was probably a black body bag nearby and some doctor writing notes down about the cause of death and all that crap.

We had stumbled into an odd place, sort of like a fat hallway or a skinny lab room. There was another door at the other end of it, but most of the floor was covered in a thin sheen of red liquid. In horror, I pulled away from the walls, which were also spattered. Let me just remind you that I am a bone fide, kick butt hybrid with about zero mercy for my enemies and ability to stomach a Gasman fart, but this room… this… slaughter house… was nearly incomprehensible. Even if the scientists were seeing how much blood an experiment could loose before dying (which I wouldn't put past them), this was just murder. Cold, dishonest murder with absolutely no chance of the victim escaping. It should have been white and sterile like everything else, but it obviously didn't have any other use.

The shouts and sounds of pursuit from behind us sounded much louder. Blasted heat seeking machines and dogs. I needed to pull myself together.

"C'mon. It's just…"

"Mother of God… is the entire floor like this?" Iggy was an unhealthy pale color as he took a step inside the room and recoiled back instantly. "I can smell it, oh, gross it's on the walls, too."

"Just blood." I tried to sound strong, I really did, but my voice came out meek and hoarse, just like Iggy. "It's just blood. It's just a helluva lota blood." I forced one foot in front of the other, trying to remember that song from _Finding Nemo._

"'Just keep swimming,'" Angel reminded me gently, her eyes closed as she sang softly and moved forward. "'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…'"

"Swim a bit faster." Fang muttered, pushing Nudge and the Gasman into the room behind mom, Total and Ella and pulling the door shut behind us.

"This is putrid." Total buried his head in mom's neck. "Let's move. My doggy instincts are telling us to move."

I seconded that emotion and nearly sprinted to the other end of the long hall, praying, praying, praying that it wasn't locked. To sum it up: It was. This wasn't the old fashioned kind either, with the knob you can turn and lock you can pick, it was one of the new sliding doors with the keypad and everything _and it was fricking locked._

"Nudge!" I barked. "Here. Now. Try to feel something out of the keypad."

She scuttled over, one hand over her mouth and nose and the other waving over the numbers. Her brow frowned, concentrating, and I forced myself not to tell her "Faster!" and instead checked up on the rest. Angel was still singing to herself and grabbed my hand with the one that wasn't covering her eyes. Gaz was standing as stiff as a tree, but then Iggy seemed to notice and grabbed his hand. The Gasman immediately breathed a sigh of almost-relief. Fang was circling, checking the room out while Nudge worked, and watching my mom and sister out of the corner of his eye.

"One…Four…Eight…Nine…Twelve…Thirty-two…thank God."

Nudge backed away, watching the door in anticipation. We waited, trying not to breathe too deeply. I glanced from the door to Nudge and back again as the seconds ticked by and the alarms just seemed to grow louder.

"Um, Nudge?"

"I don't know, Max!" She brushed Iggy aside, who was feeling the door for nonexistent cracks or secret something, and punched the code in again. A green light flashed from a little bulb and for a second I almost breathed easily, and then it turned red and a word flashed across the little screen.

_DENIED_

"Lemme guess…" Said Iggy dryly. "It won't let us through?"

"They know we're here." Fang whispered, pausing in the center of the room and twisting his neck all around as if to find a hidden camera. Gaz rushed back and tried the other door, but it was locked as well. He punched in the code. Denied.

I smashed the keypad. No luck.

"Of all places to get trapped." I pinched my nose shut, breathing shallowly and sounding like I had a head cold. Then I went through a mental list of all the best cuss words I could think of.

_Concentrate, Maximum._

_ Oh, Voice? You're back? Just in time for a rerun of _Jennifer's Body. _But this time it'll be called _The Kidnapped Victims' Body. _You're about to see the premiere. _

_ Maximum! You are not going to die. You have a world to save. Concentrate._

"Fat lot of good that'll do us, concentrating!" I snarled, ignoring the looks I received.

It didn't reply.

"Oh, for the love of God." I snapped, kicking my foot into the wall and immediately wishing I didn't. Note to self: walls are really solid.

"Max?" Angel came up behind me, taking my hand and squeezing it tight. I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the rusty, metallic scent. Her blue eyes were big and wide, her mouth shaking slightly in fear. "Is there a plan?"

I didn't even hesitate, trying to bind up my own anxiety and terror and stuff it to the back of my mind. I bent down so we were at eye level and put on the most sincere face I could.

"There is always a plan." And I must have done a pretty good job because she smiled tentatively and nodded to show she trusted me.

"Fang," I switched into leader mode, ignoring all the squirmy feelings in my gut. "Anything on the perimeter?" Just looking at his face gave me the answer, but I asked for the sake of the others, and he twitched his head to the side under the same pretense.

"So to recap: we're stuck in a room full of bodily fluids. Both doors are locked, and there doesn't seem to be any other way out. We're being chased by EM's, scientists, and dogs."

"Sounds about right." Nodded Iggy. Both boys knew the total lie I had just made up, about always having a plan, but I could see that even the thought of someone else taking charge comforted them. Most of the time, I wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world, but sometimes its cold, hard, thankless, and plays hell on my stress levels. Like right now for instance, with everyone including my own mother looking to me for answers.

I was about to make up the first thing that came to mind when I was either saved or condemned by a voice coming over a seemingly nonexistent speaker. I couldn't see anything, it must have been grafted into the wall or something, so it sure scared the crap our of me.

_"Hello, Maximum Ride."_

Unlike the Voice, I could immediately tell two things about this voice, that it was female and most definitely my enemy.

"Hey." I waved up at the ceiling, hoping my jumping in surprise hadn't been that obvious. "I'd say I was glad to hear from you, but I try not to lie."

The voice laughed tightly. I tried not to visibly shudder. _"Your courage is admirable, Maximum Ride. We could use you."_

"For experimentations and test runs?" I raised my eyebrows. They probably had a camera in here, too. If my mom wasn't here I'd flip 'em off. "To see if shampoo causes brain cancer before selling it to the public? No thank you."

She seemed to have expected this. Whoever it was wouldn't have made it as far as intercom user if she hadn't had some cranial capacity. However, she still seemed to be trying to make conversation, and seeing as what kind of room we were currently trapped in, I was willing to keep it up. I could feel Fang's eyes on the back of my head as I began to pace around the border of the room, but didn't look up from my own feet.

_"You are not an idiot, Maximum Ride."_

"Really, call me Max."

_"Neither am I, I can tell you're being sarcastic. It's not a novel idea to us suit wearers." _

I sighed, waiting for her to get on with whatever she had been saying before. She cleared her throat, making the speakers go all scratchy and bothering my ears for a moment. Iggy must have been irritated.

_"You probably know that your opinionated nature, reluctance to follow any orders other than your own and sense of your own importance are often what drives you to situations like this." _

"Excuse me," I rolled my eyes, saying the words in a way so that even if she had been acquainted with my much used defense against stupid, she would know I was being sarcastic for sure. Excuse me my wings. "But I don't think you're really in a position to say that. Heck yes I'm opinionated. I prefer chocolate ice cream to vanilla and gold to silver. I do have a reluctance to follow orders, probably because I was brought up on everyone else's whim and order to run, sit, stay, fetch. But sense of self importance? Yeah, I lead but I don't think I'm vastly superior then everyone else. I think you're the one with the self importance issue because of your casual ability to run this madhouse and not feel anything. That's my opinion."

She paused. I hoped I hadn't gotten her so pissed that she'd gas us or something. I hoped, really, really hoped. And I hoped that the Voice didn't come back with some crap about hope being wasteful.

_"That's where we're different: I admit to feeling like I am more important than my colleagues, because I am. Without me, this operation would crash and burn. The rest of them are important, but I'm the one who keeps it running, and they know it. What say you to that?"_

"Somehow, all the people I've ever heard say things like that end up assassinated."

_"Well," _she laughed, but there was no humor in the tone. _"There have been attempts on your life, have there not?"_

"And that's where we're similar, I hope."

_ "We're similar in a lot of ways, Maximum."_

I purposely shuddered visibly, and added a bit of twitching just for visual aid.

_"You need proof? I have a family, and I care a lot about them. The same goes for you."_

"Yeah, well-"

_"Your family is large, and you'll protect it at all costs. Same here."_

"Did you just interrupt me via intercom?"

_"You're the oldest, so am I. That gives us a portion of responsibility over the others, even if we lived normal lives with normal family and two parents to both care for all of us. Your second-in-command, Fang. You know him well. I have a younger brother who acts the same way."_

I tried not to sound any more aggressive than I had, tried not to show anything that would promote an extra attack on him. "Yeah," I responded, tres casual. "He's my second-in-command. He wouldn't be if I didn't."

_"What about Iggy?"_

"I knew Fang longer than Iggy. Plus thanks to your minions, he's blind. Not to mention the fact that I spend more time yelling at him than Angel."

Why was I having this kind of conversation with a voicebox, you ask? Because I had no choice. I was trying to put off whatever she was planning, and plan my own course of action in the process. Still, I was getting even more uncomfortable as we veered toward families. I didn't really want to talk to these people about my family.

_"So you don't yell at Fang?"_

"Gosh yes I do." What a stupid question.

_"Why?"_

My jaw stiffened, and out of the corner of my eye I could see how conflicted Fang was. Conflicted between totally ticked off and nervous, that is. And of course hiding how he felt.

"You said you had siblings, Miss Jeopardy. Why do you yell at them?"

She laughed quietly, though it was so lacking in emotion I could hardly tell if she was coughing or laughing. What a nutjob.

_"That was a badly phrased question on my part, Maximum." _She told me. _"I apologize. But what else can you tell me about him?"_

I froze in my tracks, a few feet away from where Fang stood, calculating. To anyone else he looked completely devoid of emotion, as if he didn't care about anything, the least of all some psychotic wacko talking about him as if he wasn't even there. Maybe the same psychotic wacko who had got him here in the first place.

I directed every ounce of my fury at the woman, probably sitting comfortably in a leather swivel chair in a fancy schmancy office, checking her manicured fingernails in a mirror. She was probably a red head. It was a bit difficult to intimidate her seeing as I wasn't face to face with her, but I'm pretty good at the pitbull snarling.

"He hates being stalked with a camera and rhymes-with-witches like you."

She wasn't fazed. _"Afraid of using bad language?"_

"It's called caution, not fear, and only in front of seven year olds and parental figures."

_"Still working for the greater good?"_

"It's what makes us different."

_"There it is again, you being self righteous. I can see it in your eyes, how you think you're superior than I."_

"Not think," I quoted her with an obnoxious smirk. "Know. I know because I don't test on innocent children or mark people for death like you do. I don't take away anyone's basic human rights. And don't give me that crap about not being human," I added as an afterthought. "I mean, ninety-eight percent has gotta count for something, right?"

_"I suppose." _But she didn't sound like it. _"But you're also two percent bird. Some birds are known for their complete inability to learn through experiences and adapt, and are eventually killed because of this malfunction."_

I took a few steps closer to the rest of my group, huddling into a smaller cluster at the center of the room. "And some birds are incredibly smart creatures with sharp talons and a complete intolerance for bullcrap." I glanced at everyone, checking emotional stability, physical fitness, and basic readiness to launch into attack mode. I had a feeling this lady didn't really care that much about setting her attack mutants on us, and might even have some popcorn on hand for the show that would follow.

She wasn't disappointed.

Granted, I suppose she had enough control to slide open the doors, allowing hordes of her cohorts to swarm in, but beyond that, it was us versus them, and we had desperation on our side. Immediately, I leapt at mom and Ella, shoving them back into a corner where they would only have to defend themselves from two side. Ella pointed behind me, and without even hesitating, I ducked and spun, clocking whoever it was behind me in the face with my foot. It was so loud I couldn't even hear the EM's neck break.

Adrenaline burned away any exhaustion as I launched into the familiar routine. To think I had been worrying about falling our of practice as mom's. Spin, kick, punch, duck, slide, slam… I caught sight of Angel and the Gasman backed into another corner, feinting side to side and taking out anything that came close enough, but then a new attacker came forward and I jumped to it's shoulder, slamming the skull into the ground and using the momentum to slam into a group surrounding Iggy. In the split second I saw his blood spattered face, I could see how irritated he was with the walls causing all sound to echo around us. I mean, we're not bats. We don't do the whole echolocation thing.

"Max, duck!"

Thing is, whenever someone says that (minus Gaz and Ig) I usually turn to intercept the enemy, rather then let it attack me. I caught this EM by the throat, spinning with it and letting go of his shirt so that it crashed into two others behind me. Fang took its place in front of me, panting slightly with a fresh gash above his eye.

"Should've expected that." He raised his eyebrows, Fang's version of snorting in exasperation.

"Yep. Behind you." I nodded with a wry grin, and he swung around, taking another EM out quickly, and I assumed the same position right behind him.

So, hidden weaknesses on the Elite Men department.

They have really good eyesight, but if you twitch to the side or do something really unpredictable, which I'm good at, it confuses them just long enough for a good hit to the neck.

With a good hit to the neck, they go down like cement bricks, gagging, giving plenty of opportunity to keep 'em down as long as you watch out for the flailing arms.

They also have really good hearing, but like Iggy, it was distracting them and just making it easier to take them out.

Check back for others later.

We put up a good fight. Really. Well, screw that. We put up an awesome fight, I'd like to see how the majority of underage kids in America would deal with that. Fang and I took up traditional back to back position like in the movies and were basically a hurricane of destruction and chaos, and Iggy and the Gasman blasted an actual hole in the wall. It was a plus/minus thing, allowing more EMs to scramble in, but took out about twenty in the process. Unfortunately, by then we had gained enough attention to have thirty more take their places. Then I saw Nudge thrown into a wall, and though her eyelids fluttered faintly, she couldn't get up and mom and Ella dragged her into their corner. Angel appeared there a moment later, making sure nobody got close enough to them.

And yet, with all our progress, Gaz was knocked to the ground, and even before I could get there, Iggy was whaling on the EM pinning him, but then two others leapt on top of them and in my moment of distraction I was tossed to the floor, and so even though it felt like I had been fighting for my life for hours, it was only five minutes later that we were all held to the ground then successively shoved into dog crates. This included Total with a lot of ranting about degrading treatment and the like, and I snapped at him to shut up as we were lifted onto a little cart thing, but in truth I was glad we hadn't lost him in the fray.

They wheeled us back through the halls, navigating them perfectly and ending at our starting point in half the time it took us to leave, but took a few extra moments to yank us from our cages and, get this, chain our ankles and wrists to walls. We each had about five feet of extra chain so we could move okay, but I mean, chains? This is the twenty-first century, people. Still, it didn't take them longer then another five minutes. I needed to remember to learn about maps when we escaped. In the meantime, I needed to make sure that Nudge didn't have a concussion and that Total swore instead in English so he didn't teach Angel how to in French and German as well.

"Nudge?" Fang crawled across the floor closer to her, his set of chains was closest. Seeing the bleeding gash, he sat up and tore the cuff of his pant leg off then pressed it to her forehead.

"Is she okay?" I pulled as close as I could, but I was still halfway across the room and the blasted chains wouldn't let me move any further. I rattled at them furiously, but stopped as Nudge's foot twitched.

"M'okay."

I exhaled in relief, not realizing I had been holding my breath until Fang stretched his hand out as far as it would go and helped her to sit up. She breathed in heavily, holding the patch of jean above her eye, but smiled as she looked at the rest of us.

"Really, I've had worse. Max, sit back, you look like you're gonna collapse."

I rolled my eyes, lip twitching into an almost smile. She really was okay if she could talk to me like that. Really, she was like my _mother. _

"Come, ye peasant folk."

"What?" We all glanced up at Ella, chained between Angel and the Gasman. I hoped she wasn't going into shock-if she got hurt it would be completely my fault, not to mention the fact that I just really wanted her to be okay. She looked okay, sort of like Nudge. A little battered, hair askew, but there was a brave smile on her face and a light in her eyes.

"Well," She gestured to herself. "I'm sort of chained to a wall. I feel like I'm in Robin Hood or something. Stealing from the rich to feed the poor, you know? Or maybe I just didn't pay my taxes."

Maybe it was a sign of how tired I was, how much my head hurt, or how heavy my heart felt, but I cracked up anyway.


	47. Introductions

**Chapter Forty-Seven**

** I have an excuse. I swear it.**

** I was in the Dominican Republic working with orphanage children and teaching English to preschoolers and third graders for the last ten days.**

** No joke.**

** Before that, though… I have no actual excuse for why I didn't update besides that I didn't like the chapter was yet. This is what I have, it's about nine pages on word, it's 9:32 and my flights have all been in the early hours of this morning, so I'm exhausted. I seriously am sorry for not updating sooner, but I've been brainstorming while in the land of sun and more sun and sunburn on my part, and I'm on vacation this week, so hopefully I'll have something up soon.**

** IMPORTANT! DO NOT SKIP!**

** I just finished **_**Fang, **_**which came out while I was in the DR. It will not change the plotline, so don't worry. I'm not giving anything away to those who haven't yet read it, though!**

** And the **_**Lord of the Rings **_**and **_**Harry Potter **_**references in chapters past will have relevance sometime soon.**

** And (last one, I swear it!) when I have writers block I tend to update/fix mistakes or add something into earlier chapters. So far I think I've done five, eight, seven, and thirty-five, so if you want to check back, feel free. If not, that's chill, too.**

** Now on with reviewers.**

** Bubbley-chan-I'm not really sure of the intercom lady yet, but she most certainly is evil.**

** Evangeline the Gothic Angel-I rather like the EM's as antagonists, though. And I'm working on the significance of the bloody room…**

** Dibs on Fang He's So Hot-you'll see.**

** GeraniumRose-awesome double review. Cool beans. Haha, the schizo issues. I doubt Fang would like that. And I hate the idea of Dylan, too. Read **_**Fang **_**(as if I could make you, you probably already have.) It answers a ton of questions, and tore my heart out at the same time. Don't assume anything from that, though. I was really disappointed with the Fax in the book, though. Most of it… so I'm going to continue "my kind" despite the recent book. Thanks a gajillion, and I love how your reviews are long!**

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-ah, I do so love Total and Nudge. Muchos gracias!**

** death-thanks!**

** indescriable destruction-thank you!!!**

** turtlelover0511-my friend Sierra loves turtles. Haha, anyway, thanks so so much. Your review really meant a lot! Sorry I didn't update sooner.**

** Digisniper!-wow-sorry about the slowness in updating, but thanks!**

** Winged-Vampyre-Gallagher-Girl-haha, been there. Thank you! I'm trying to keep it fresh.**

** Serein-thank you beyond measure. I love reviews that go into opinion and thought on it, not just 'awesome. Update soon plz.' Not that I don't love those, too, but I really appreciate the opinions. Blood, Blast, and I can't remember the rest of the cheer. Sorry. But major thanks! I love Stripes, too, and I hope to bring both characters back in.**

** Sallafe K.-wow, talk about long reviews. I love it! And the thesaurus, you made me laugh despite how tired I was and depressed about book six. Can I have a purple star with a shiny gold sheen? Please? With a cherry on top? **

** emotionalpoemgirl-thanks for the review and input.**

** MeganDamnFox-no, I'm not dead. Not quite, anyway. As interested as I am in necromancy and zombies… I've yet to become one myself. However, I'll connect you to a few acquaintances. Or I'll just update, which judging by your comment is probably what you'd rather have than a zombie wanting your flesh.**

**Chapter Forty-Seven**

"Well," Iggy muttered, blowing a lint ball from his pocket across the floor. "Guess they added a few hallways since our last visit."

"It wasn't completely useless." I tried to sound upbeat but didn't achieve squat lying on my back and staring at the white ceiling. Seriously, you think it'd be a waste to sterilize the ceiling, but there's no limits to these people. "I mean, we learned a lot."

Iggy glanced in my general direction with raised eyebrows. "Like what?"

"Fighting techniques against the EMs, and their leader is a girl."

"Because we all know how truly evil girls are." Iggy smirked. "I've heard their leadership skills are doubtful because they're using their minions for their own gain."

"Did you just call yourself a minion?"

"That's probably what you think of us."

"Oh, yeah. Minions all the way. That's totally what I think of you. While you're at it, why don't you go get me my broomstick and wand?"

"Did you just call yourself a witch?"

"That's probably what you think of me."

"Incase I didn't make it clear, you're the Minion Master-"

"Any other plusses from our failed escape?" Total buried his head in his chained paws. He was seriously insulted about being chained, too. He thought he was above it. I just can't catch a break with that dog.

"Their necks are weak." Fang coughed once, ignoring the looks he received. "In comparison to Mr. Chu's ninja imitators. Apparently its where they graft the electronic brain to the rest of the body."

The Gasman chuckled and threw a grin in Fang's direction. "Their hair is flammable."

I don't know what I'm going to do about that kid, really I don't. I glanced at Fang, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines, but other than that, his face was carefully masked. He was sitting cross-legged, leaning back against the wall and seeming to stare off at something that no one else could see. It was a look that hurt my heart, because I knew it was his way of avoiding his own awful reality, and I don't think anyone deserves to have to do that.

I swore to myself and dropped my head back against the hard tile floor.

"Max?" Mom glanced up from her hands, folded carefully in her lap. "Are you okay?"

I had a whole snappy comeback ready for anyone who asked me that, probably along the lines of: "Aside from an overwhelming sense of bloodlust, just dandy." But this was my mom, and it was my fault that she was even in this situation, so I just nodded and muttered a quick "Sorry."

_Max? _Angel squirmed over to me on her hands and knees as far as she could go, but then I wiggled over the rest of the space and took her hand, offering a reassuring smile even if it was still unnerving to hear her speak in my mind. She raised her eyebrows in a very Fang-ish way, as if to say "I know you're lying through your teeth." It really isn't reassuring when a seven year old gives you that expression.

_Yeah, Sweetie?_

Her mouth twisted into a sad smile and met my eyes with an expression that made me feel like the seven year old for a second, and she the fourteen-ish year old. That's usually a difficult thing to make me feel, but for a second just the mental hug she sent me was enough.

_It's not your fault we're here, Max. _She sent to me, finally abandoning the mature look and allowing a little worry to sneak in. _Stop hitting your head and blaming yourself. Hitting your head kills brain cells._

I snorted, looking away and down at the white tile.

_Really. _She assured me. _We were completely safe at the Martinez's, trust me on that. It was complete chance that they met up with us._

_ Yeah. _I retorted, bitingly sarcastic. _Like, out of a billion places we could be, they just managed to pick the right one?_

_ Exactly. _She wasn't fazed, even hardening her mental voice a bit. _Like winning the lottery. Except not as good. But I need you to stop beating yourself up, we all do, because you're our leader and you'll get us out, I know you will. _

_ But-_

_ No._

_ Since when do you give me orders?_

She giggled. _Since you need a bit of reassurance, that's when. Now, we're probably on camera, but we need to be able to communicate, so I'm going to try to open a DTML which works pretty well as long as we're all close._

_ A DTML?_

She sighed, exasperated. _Direct Thought Mental Link. It's like talking mentally, Total and I have practiced. You can only hear other people's direct thoughts that they're sending out so there's no embarrassing stuff that you hate. Fang really does like your wings, by the way-_

"Get on with it." I growled. _Don't go there, sister._

She grinned evilly. _Just watch out for strong emotion, since it picks up on that, too. _

"Angel…" I warned her, staring hard into her innocent little blue eyes.

She smirked, not berated in the least, and took a few moments to set up the link then explain to the others what she was doing. I admit it was a little freaky that Angel could set up a freaking _mind link, _but I was good with it if we could communicate without the whitecoats knowing what was going on. Thing is, once it was set up, there still wasn't much to say, so there was this heavy, oppressing silence weighing in on your thoughts like a raincloud of death.

_Well, guys. _Angel pouted, her mental voice ringing in my ears but nonetheless still sounding relatively similar to her usual tone. _Don't sound so excited. I just opened a mind link and not one of you thinks it's cool?_

_ I just don't think it's fair. How come you can do all this stuff? _The Gasman glowered back. _Not that they don't outweigh my skills. _

_ Ha, you wish! I can talk to fish! And dolphins! And whales! And various other animals!_

Gaz turned his nose up at that, making me and Nudge crack smiles. _That's nothing._

_ Well, what can you do, Gazzy? _Ella tried to appease him, smiling across the room toward him. His mouth stretched into a cruel little smile that made the five of us winged folk extraordinarily nervous because we knew he wasn't thinking about mimicry. Angel scooted away from her brother and Iggy pulled Ella in his direction away from the little devil, too. I took a moment to send a prayer to anybody who would listen that we wouldn't be in such a small room if Gaz had an attack.

_ Don't ask. _Nudge advised with a wry smile. _He has his name for a reason._

She replied with a sarcastic _Wonderful. _But mom tried to be optimistic and pointed out that at least the whitecoats hadn't served any Mexican.

Gaz groaned aloud, flopping onto his back and then wincing as he bruised his wings on the tile. _I'd spare you guys for a burrito. I'm starved. _

Needless to say, we all could sympathize there.

_They better not give me K9 Kibbles. _Total buried his head in his paws and _arroo_ed wearily. We all looked at him, but seeing how his eyes were hidden behind his scruffy legs, he didn't see us shaking our heads. Heck, Total should be grateful for cat food, let alone K9 Kibbles. It had been hours since I'd last eaten, and the Flock was feeling it. Somehow, I doubted that we'd be getting three square meals, or even two. I dunno, maybe it was the chains or the crates, but something was clueing me in… Luckily, we weren't that hungry yet, but it was only a matter of time and I pitied mom and Ella who hadn't encountered a really ravenous Flock yet. We get a little grumpy.

_Providing for your Flock is important, Maximum. I'm proud that your leadership duties cannot be staunched by a bout of a little strife._

So it continued to drop in… just never when I needed it. Seriously, these random occurrences of the Other Bane of My Existence were going to give me a heart attack someday.

_Granted, that might just be because you were thinking about food. I notice you're not thinking about water, or nutrition, or yearly shots…_

_ Screw you. _I grumped. _I _do _think about things other than food. So unless on the remote chance you have something actually useful, I'll return to my 'bout of a little strife.'_

_ Are you being fresh with me?_

_ Well, I hope I'm not being stale. I hate being dull and boring._

_ Charmed, as always, Maximum. But lacking in manners, as usual._

_ I'm not the one busting into people's heads uninvited!_

_ You need me on your mission._

_ You sure have a sense of your own importance. I need you like I need a hole in my head. But wait! You already gave me one._

_ You do not have a hole in your head, now come to your senses._

_ As good as, with you here._

_ Do I need to instruct you on how to be polite as well as give you coordinates?_

_ I need you to crawl into a cave and die._

_ She's hopeless. _I had the sudden feeling that it wasn't addressing me anymore, especially since it was probably talking about me. _Doctor, I'd really work on your daughter's people skills. She won't be able to survive without them._

In short, mom was kind of speechless. Well, her mouth was hanging open at least and her eyes were bugging out, looking at me. The others all coughed on their own spit as well, and Total even shot to his feet yelping, "She isn't actually crazy!"

_Guys, the nutcase Voice that invades my head. Voice, them._

"I don't like being addressed as 'them.'" Total sniffed. "I find it degrading."

_Maybe you can instruct her on her actions towards other people, then._

_ A civilized space of Max's mind! Praise the Lord._

_ Shut up, Total. _

_ I take it you're Total?_

_ Like you don't know! _I snapped. _Leave them alone. Mutt included. _

_ Then, _the Voice turned back to address me with a sharp tone. _Introduce me. You have no idea how important these skills are. You can start with them._

_ Will you go away afterwards?_

If you've been reading my books long enough (which I hope you have, if you're reading this. Why should I write it down if you only read the most recent?) you should know by now that the Voice wouldn't reply to this question. It was too much to ask that it'd stay away.

_You met mom, over there next to Angel. That's Angel. Then there's the Gasman. Then Ella and Iggy and me and Total and Nudge and Fang. And we've come full circle._

I waited, hoping, hoping, hoping…

_You really need to work on your introductions, Maximum._

_ Maybe she has bigger problems then introductions._

I glanced at Fang, reading his expression easily. If the Voice was solid, he would've hit it. I sent him a thankful look, but he rolled his eyes in a 'duh' sort of way.

_Ever allusive Fang! Hello there. It's nice to meet you, too._

If anybody else had called him 'ever allusive' I definitely would have laughed. Circumstances being as they were, I was too angry. He obviously was as well and didn't reply.

The Voice wasn't fazed. Seriously. I think this was the most fun I had heard it having since it had ever so peacefully (not) invaded my mind.

_As for your statement, well, you are in a bit of a pickle, but none of you realize the need to be able to talk your way out of situations. _

_Max has talked her way out of more spots than a cheetah has. _Nudge pointed out. _I'm just saying. She doesn't really need help in the talking department. I like pickles._

_ My warnings fall on deaf ears. Tell me, Fang, how's the Pacific ocean faring?_

He stiffened visibly, shooting Angel a look but she shrugged and shook her face. I wondered what they said to each other, but was too irritated at the Voice to really bother.

_Really, his modesty astounds me. _The Voice chuckled. _Actually, a lot of things about you seven astound me, but he performed quite well out on his escape from those winged experiments he happened across. He dive bombed into the ocean with them on his tail and they went haywire in the water. Following that, he still managed to fly back with only a little sleep. That in itself is quite an accomplishment. _

_ Do you have anything productive you wish to offer, _I snarled,_ or are you just trying to infuriate my friends?_

_Actually, I do, so drop your tone. _That was when it stopped speaking abruptly. I had heard the tone often enough to know that it was about to be caught guilty in the act, and it addressed me quickly. _I need to go, I shouldn't have lingered, but remember two things-_

_ That people are ruled by time and money? _

_ Listen, Maximum! _It snapped, for the first time really losing it's temper at me as I stalked back and forth, as far as my chains would allow. _First and foremost-you must not under any circumstances tell the whitecoats about your visions, and following that work on your temper. It induces more people to kill you, and the world can't afford that._

_ Wait! _I howled back at it. _That doesn't mean anything! _But, if you've stuck with the series, you can probably guess that I was left without another word.

We were met with a stony silent, heavier then any weight until Gazzy cleared his throat. "I don't blame you for randomly shouting at voices only you can hear."

For once Iggy didn't agree with his partner in crime, _shh_ing him loudly and giving me a look with his sightless blue eyes that clearly read "someone's coming."

And of course, that went over like a ton of bricks.

My day really wasn't going how I had planned. I mean, the Voice going all secret-mission on me again, plus stressing _manners_ of all things and attacking my family was one thing, and the chains were just the icing on that cake. But, not five seconds after Iggy made his rather dark proclamation, another few whitecoats filed in, closely followed by their little pets, an EM and a little box machine, called Cubiks, I think. Personally, I thought they looked sort of like a refined WALL-E if any of you have seen that movie. If you haven't, imagine the cutest little robotic box you can, but add the evil scientists in. They were like demonic WALL-Es.

We seemed to be representing world cultures today. We had a squat Asian man with thinning hair and a small pair of spectacles he kept polishing on his white coat and then putting them back on again and squinting at us as if that would help him see more clearly. The second looked very similar to Anne (not a good thing, on her behalf), average height, nice blue eyes, and some slightly brownish-blonde hair pulled back into a professional looking bun. At first I thought she could be the person I had spoke to on the intercom but when she spoke to the Asian next to her, her accent was decidedly French. Besides, the head of the operation probably wouldn't come for a good while yet. She'd want us broken if she actually spent time examining us.

Behind them was another man, taller than the other two with a good head of brownish hair, Harry Potter-esque glasses, and a small little goatee. They all ticked me off from the start because of the way they looked at us, which you'd think I'd get used to after fourteen years, but somehow being treated like I'm more insignificant than a mud puddle on the side of the road just gets more irritating with age. Not to mention their white coats, clip boards, and (hey, improvement to the idiot interns) stun guns at their sides. Points to the evil guys.

"Zey seem to be causing much trouble under your care, Ruth." Said the woman, bending down to get a good look at Total with a wrinkled nose, as if he disgusted her. I admit my heart swelled with pride when he bared his teeth in a somewhat threatening snarl. For a dog his size, it was pretty intimidating. Her lip curled, and she moved on to walk a small circle around the room, just far enough that none of us could lunge out and grab her pretty ankles. I sat back against the wall, watching the motley crew as the scientists made their circuits. The robots stayed by the door, which had slid shut behind them.

"Emilie," the man defended, obviously stung. "The German embassy lost to them and they were the most prominent Itexicon branch in the continent."

"So you theenk that Canada would 'ave done ze job right, do you not?" The blonde whipped around to glare at her compadres, turning away from Gazzy. Good thing, too. He had been looking like he was ready to let one rip right in her face, and as funny as that would have been for a second, we were in a very small room. "You theenk zat you should be given ze job? Pah! And zat's _Miss Roux _to you!"

His face purpled. It was quite amusing, actually, to watch him stamp away from Iggy and move toward the petite French woman.

"You just want the glory for your own country! You can't stand the fact that North America beat you in capturing the most obscure escapees in the history of our work!" He leaned down over her, and if I were her, I would have been quite worried with this formidable man standing over me, a measly short human in a pencil skirt and stilettos, but this Emilie Roux didn't back down. She braced her feet with her hands on her curvaceous hips and stared him down.

"Don't you even talk to me like zat! You 'ave no right!" She snarled with her little accent and a stamp of the heel. I would have said 'go girl!' except she was standing up for who got credit for trapping us. Yeah, not cool.

"It's called the right of free speech," he snapped. "Since we're in America, we live under its laws. I'd suggest you learn them."

Her face, flushed red with fury, grew a deeper shade as she turned around in a huff yelling, "_Zut alors!_" Whatever the heck that means. I met Fang's eyes and shared the ghost of a smile with him.

"Miss Roux, Mr. Ruth!" The other man turned away from Nudge with rolling eyes. He only had a slight accent, and could probably speak English fluently. Again he repeated their names to grab Emilie's attention as she ranted away in rapid French. He seemed to be the head on the shoulders of the threesome, actually finding irritation at their squabble. "There is work to be done and other times for this discussion! Now, are you professionals or new graduates? Get the notes from Cubik 31, use the EM if needed, and work together!"

"Totally unprofessional." Mom muttered to Ella. "You're guaranteed to get fired if you ever act like that in the real world."

"It's true." The Asian turned to mom with raised eyebrows. "I'm glad you noticed, and I apologize for the actions of my colleagues. This was meant to be a quick and clean procedure, but clearly their differences are too much for them."

Mom nodded coolly, as if he was back in her office with another business person instead of chained to a wall after being abducted by the same man now talking to her. "To be frank," she said. "I fire any assistants who act this way, or give them a warning in the least."

He smiled wryly, bowing his head in a show of respect before gesturing to the rest of us, and his colleagues who were now glaring at him.

"If it wasn't for the present circumstances, I feel as if I may have appreciated your company. You seem an educated intellectual."

"Maybe if you hadn't kidnapped us all, yes." Her mouth twitched, but I couldn't tell if it was a smile or a frown.

"You didn't have to get caught up in this." He reminded her. "You could've run, or stayed home."

She raised her eyebrows, her eyes flashed in a way that the Flock and Ella had come to use as a warning and slink away before she blows. "Or you could've decided against kidnapping children, then I wouldn't even have been in this position."

He shook his stout little head, rubbing his glasses on his lapel. "Like it or not, they're our property."

We all stiffened, but it was Ella who whipped around and snarled, "They're people, too! Just because they've got...well, wings, doesn't mean they're objects!"

"Without us, zey would be dead." Emilie turned to look at Ella condescendingly, as if thinking that she was much more superior to my twelve year old sister. I hate it when adults do that. They think just because they've graduated and are older, they know everything. It's like all those government guys trying to put us on a leash, they're like, hey, everyone else your age goes to school and loves to read and such, why not? And we think, um, everyone else doesn't grow up like we do. Get out of our lives. That kind of thing.

"They can't think for themselves. The avian sections of their mind have affected their judgmental skills." Ruth turned to her with a sly smile. "Don't try to understand things you couldn't possibly know about, insolent girl."

"She knows more than you do!" Iggy snapped, reaching toward Ella and pulling her away from the whitecoats. "About universal human rights!"

"I hate to break it to you," said Emilie in a tone that made me shake with suppressed anger because she obviously didn't hate it. "But you're not human."

"Come _on!" _I snapped, finally breaking and darting to my feet and as close to the French woman as I could get. "Ninety-eight percent has gotta count for something! Mathematicians call that a majority."

Although she had originally flinched at my lunge, Emilie stalked as close as safely possible with a smirk.

"And scientists call you a miztake." She said softly. "Which eez usually a death sentence. But fortunately for you, you have something we need. You," now she turned and snapped her fingers at the EM, who trotted to her side like Total on a good day. "Unchain ze dark one, but keep 'im restrained."

**A last note:**

** Sorry about the cliffhanger. **

** A second last note:**

** I based the French accent on Fleur Delecour's in **_**Harry Potter, **_**I've never actually met anyone with a real French accent so I'm sorry if you're French and are insulted or anything. I'm just trying to add detail.**

** Over and out.**

** Don't be too open minded or your brains will fall out.**


	48. Punishment

**Chapter Forty-Eight**

**Hey, everyone! As usual, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, heck, even read. I appreciate it. On to business.**

** Sallafe K-I love glitter pens! Haha… hope you like the chapter. And thanks for the multiple reviews.**

** Serein-such fabulous books. At our lacrosse game I said that onetime and people were like, "'blood! Blast! And Fire!' WTH?" But of course, they can't understand. I loved your review, and yes, next few chapters or so. LOTR and HP will make an appearance. **

** emotionalpoemgirl-you actually pointed out a problem that I noticed while writing but couldn't figure out how to fix because Ruth had to be North American but couldn't be American or Mexican (long story) even though I suppose Canada and France might have more reason to unite against America than vice versa. If that sounded racist, I apologize. I'm glad you noticed Ella and Dr. M, the whitecoats are gonna get it from them. **

** I love rice :D**

** Evangeline the Gothic Angel-well, Fleur was the inspiration –grins- glad you liked it.**

** Winged-Vampyre-Gallagher-Girl-here's the continuation… sorry if you don't like this ending, either. I'm better at action then trying to come up with random dialogue. I changed the ending of this chapter about five times…**

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND, or Snickuz, whichever you prefer. Sorry I didn't update faster, life happened, but anyway, I hope you appreciate the chapter. And I love seeing your review for each chapter!**

** IwriteUread-hehe, sorry…**

** Maddy-that sums it up, methinks.**

** turtlelover0511-I thought they should meet the Voice… at least know Max isn't **_**completely**_** insane.**

** Charlie-oh, we all know Fleur really is evil. Just kidding, I liked her in the end. And I'm glad you appreciated not wanting Max and Angel, I try to mix it up.**

** Tmbookworm-I know, the end of **_**FANG **_**was so bittersweet! Thanks!**

** emmetcullenluver23456-thank you so much!**

** M(ello)ailJeevas-thanks so much, Mello! Do you mind if I call you that? Sorry, have to go to bed like, now, and I don't have a problem with you not having a real account. Major, major **_**muchos gracias **_**as my little brother said to me today (I have no idea why, of course, but that's another story.)**

**Thanks to everyone! Onward…**

**Chapter Forty-Eight**

This is why I hate getting close to people.

This is why I hate those sucky blockades people call emotions.

This is why I sometimes hate having the five best hybrids in the world as my family.

This is why I often hate being the leader.

Obviously, I need a synonym dictionary. A thesaurus completely devoted to the word 'hate.'

Because its rarely me that the nutjobs (who I also hate) target. Sure, I'm always brought along for the ride, but its never me yanked from my chains, probably dislocating my wrists, never me with my ankles and hands tied together and tossed to the ground like a sack of potatoes with a heavily armed monstrously tall EM standing over me.

That's right.

They usually don't do this to Angel or the Gasman, assuming they're too young for me to tell them anything (which is partially true.) They usually don't do this to Nudge for reasons unknown, probably the same. She's relatively young, and can also seem naïve despite her ability to kick a grown man's chest in. Their loss. Iggy's blind, They immediately see that as an extreme fault and sign of uselessness. Again, not my problem. Believe me, I'm not asking for any one of my family to be hurt, but if it has to be someone that They beat up, I want it to be me. But of course, being the twisted whitecoats that They are, They go for my weakest link. Perhaps They've learned that They can't get much from me through force. Perhaps They just find sick satisfaction in slamming my best friend into the ground and trying to make him scream.

It could be a lot of things, but for one reason or another, it was Fang who was rounded up with a gun, tied up, then hefted into the air by the EM and tossed onto the tile floor. He even bounced a little.

Now, you know that we're all abnormally tall for our ages. But the EM towered over a standing Fang, let alone laying facedown on the floor. The EM's heavy combat boot was bigger Fang's head, pressed down between his shoulder blades to make sure Fang couldn't wriggle away. We're good at wriggling.

Ella squeaked, mom drew a shocked breath. Angel whimpered. Gaz glared his best eight year old glare at the scientists. Nudge's mouth had fallen open. Iggy's mouth was clamped tightly shut, and as for me, I concentrated on not reacting whatsoever.

And my heart was pounding at an ever more abnormal rate, my whole body literally shaking. At least, it felt like that. I knew what was coming. Fang knew what was coming. He twisted his head to the side and met my eyes, everything said in that one little gesture, and I knew I had to get myself together. Resisting the urge to swallow, I narrowed my eyes at the whitecoats and raised my chin.

"And the point of this little production is?" I glowered. "Because, really, I was having quite a time looking for smudges on the ceiling."

"I thought you might ask." Said Little Asian Man. Or LAM. Perhaps I'll call him that. Lam. Anyway, Dr. Lam was smirking and rubbing his glasses while looking directly at me as if humored. He felt shame for the angry shouting of his colleagues, but not for the utter mistreatment of a fourteen-ish year old. I had to concentrate not to break and fly in a rage, which would only amuse them even more and put Fang in greater danger.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase," He continued after a lengthy pause where I didn't reply. "And tell you that we know of your mission. You've been told you need to save the world. The thing is, as incredible as it would be if we scientists could just sit back and, as you kids say, 'chillax,' you haven't proved to be the most reliable experiment. You're more of a variable than a constant."

"Well," Muttered Ruth quietly, but we all heard in the quiet room. Plus you know, having ears. "She's a constant pain in the ass, if you ask me."

"Got that right." I leered right back at the scientists. "Learned something, have you?"

Lamie didn't bother correcting the Canadian, though he did shoot him a look that clearly read, You are so in trouble when we're done with this. Really, you'd think Ruth already had a mom to tell him this.

"The point is," He continued irritably. "We can't leave control of the world in your rather incapable and childish hands. We took matters into our own hands right after you destroyed the German headquarters, starting to breed another super race to back our efforts. It's taken a while, but was more successful than we could hope for. Thus we have the EMs, or Elite Men. They truly are the pinnacle of our achievements, able to think for themselves but also be controlled properly should the need arise. There is a perfect balance, unlike the rest of Itexicons faulty armies. It happened that we were testing them when they ran into the dark one here," The EM pressed down further on Fang's back, who though I could see was hurt, didn't let on to anyone else. I was pretty much ready to stuff Lamie and the others down the EM's throat then hope he choked, painfully and slowly.

"Which proved the perfect test run. They almost succeeded, but it gave us a chance for improvement before sending them out on a real mission. We expected you to leave the Pacific coast area at once after this sighting, sending many of our people out towards other branches of our business. It was good fortune that we left some here, cataloguing different terrains so we could grow samples back here, and complete luck that we ran into you. The EMs passed the unexpected test: you were captured, much earlier than anticipated, and furthering our success in saving the world from complete and total destruction."

"Your point?" I seethed. "Not that this isn't the most interesting thing I've ever heard…"

Lamie was unfazed, raising his eyebrows as if daring me to mess with him. This was a really bad gesture on his part. I can't back down from a dare. Call it a bad habit.

"We are missing the vital link necessary to move further ahead, and if it wasn't so important I wouldn't be asking right out for it because I have a feeling you're not going to cooperate. We know you've been having visions, unprecedented ones, but visions all the same and ones we know are linked towards the future. I'm giving you one chance to tell me, or better yet show me, what they're about. If that fails, we fall back to the one we have gathered to be similar to a beta, a second in command, if you will. This beta would take over for you in the event that you failed, that you expired, that anything should happen to you. Its obvious who your beta is, but we were given another unexpected break: we have proof from the late Itex company in the form of recordings from your upbringing that from the time you were placed in a cage at the School, this was in a cage next to you. Footage and secret reports have shown us that he's been at your side since, with a minor exception about six months ago. Even so, the break was short and the six of you are reunited. Not only is he your beta, your second in command, but your closest confident and you trust him with your life. Thus we can deduce that if you didn't tell everyone, you at least told him what you have seen. From there, if you don't give us what we want now, we will get it from him in a matter of moments. Have you anything to say?"

It didn't take me long to process all that Dr. Lam had told me in that spitfire factual way that scientists have, but it took me a moment to gather up a reply. His report had told me multiple things, more than he had intended, I'd bet.

These people were not from the School, though their companies and the School were linked, sorta like sister-companies. Like the _Titanic _and it's sister-ship. I bet they had their own Schools in their respective countries, but as far as I knew, we were in good ol' Death Valley again.

Itex had fallen into disarray since our attack on their headquarters, and though they were still in business (enough to bribe their way into the good books with info about us) they were struggling tadpoles in a large pond.

That they were keeping tabs on us, close ones at that.

Jeb must have illegally copied the videos he had shown to us. I had doubted that the School would part with them that easily.

The School was still up and running just as well as it had been. It hadn't fallen with other branches (unfortunately)

That they knew about my mission and confirmed it. If the others hearing the Voice in my head was not enough, this filed it away. The world needed saving. Badly, from how they put it. And of course they thought that they would be the ones to solve it. From there, I knew the visions weren't just the Voice messing with my head, that they were somehow important to my mission and that I'd fail if I didn't interpret them.

And 7., they knew just how important Fang was to me. This gave them most of the deck of cards, but I still had a few kings and queens to offer.

I didn't need to look down at Fang and meet his eyes to know what I would read there, furthermore I knew that I couldn't. Looking at him, or even down, would indicate weakness and eventual submission on my part. This would easily and quickly lose me a few more of my cards.

Internally I braced myself as I calmly met Lamie's eyes, trying so hard to project the same amount of danger that Fang could do, as if daring you to cross him. I'm not quite as good as he is, but I have a fair shot.

"Yeah, I have something to say." I said, dangerously quiet but my voice rising. "I say that you and your buddies are making the same mistake that Itex and this place made before you, thinking you can take advantage of us and win. I say that you will regret this day for the rest of your short and miserable life. Basically, I'm saying that you can kiss your dreams goodbye."

Little Asian Man's eyes didn't falter, which I was actually surprised at, because that's where you often first see the hesitation after I turn on my "I'm gonna kick your butt into next year" Look. He didn't even rub his little glasses.

"Be that way." He told me, and I was perfectly ready to retort some snappy comeback like, "Yeah, I will!" But he had already turned to the EM and nodded once, stepping in front of the monstrous creature. He was like the Hulk, but with a winning smile and lacking in the broccoli toned skin. Without a word, as if they had practiced, the EM lifted Fang up off the ground by the base of one arm, leaving him hanging awkwardly and probably in a lot of pain. The three whitecoats, followed by the little Cubik clustered closer to him.

"We'll start this easily." Said Lamie conversationally. "What's your name?"

_Angel, _said Fang mentally, not moving his lips or taking the whitecoats from his cold glare. _Close me off from the mind link now._

_ But-_

_ Now!_

It was not a moment to soon. Lamie nodded again, and the EM's flawless fingernails began to grow inches in seconds, and he raked them across Fang's face. I tried not to wince, but felt Fang's pain as my own. He was going through this _for me. _

His eyes had closed, the only sign to the pain he would be feeling. The cuts were relatively shallow, they didn't want to kill their victim, but they were long, trailing in a slant from his left ear, across his nose, and to his jawbone. Thick red blood began to well up like a flood, dripping down his face. Fang took no notice of this, blinking his eyes open again in such a way that even in his vulnerable position, Dr. Lamie took a step back. He was scary that way, sometimes, with his pupils getting lost in his black eyes and the utter hatred that he seemed to breathe towards his enemies.

"Now, ve must 'ave your full cooperation." Said the French woman, stepping forward and eyeing his face in disgust. I wanted to rip off her little stiletto shoes and stab her with them. Multiple times. With a lot of force. In reality, I had to concentrate on not yelling out to leave him alone or I would rip out their entrails and force feed the intestines to them as they died. That'd sort of give away the whole passive thing Fang and I knew I had to go for. "Eez a name possible?"

Fang didn't reply, and I forced myself to see another scene as Lamie nodded again, and the whitecoat grabbed the other one of Fang's arms, and already tied back awkwardly, yanked it hard.

"Skip the whole name thing." Ruth rumbled impatiently. "It doesn't matter. As far as we're concerned, he's 10447kjb1127aa. What else matters?"

"Ze fact zat 'e eez not cooperating." Roux glared at him imperiously, forgetting Fang in the midst of a blonde hair flip. "You are _un imbecile, _Ruth. 'ow did you get through college?"

"He. Has. A. Name." I growled, my chains shaking with me in my uncontrollable anger. "You are all the imbeciles! You, Frenchie! You probably had to hook up with your professors to get through college, and you, Ruth, probably bought your way through. And Lamie-I have no idea how you ever learned to speak with that pathetic mind of yours! Does it not occur to you that maybe he isn't speaking because you're torturing him? Or has that concept just flown by you?"

I admit, it did take them a moment to recover and give Fang time to land a kick on the EM's kneecap. We all flinched as it howled in a chilling and definitely inhuman way, no matter how similar he looked to one. Still, Fang paid dearly as the EM limped over to a wall and slammed him into it. Ella reached for the EM's foot, managing to land a score of marks from her nails, but it was preoccupied with roaring and flinging Fang around like a ragdoll.

"Enough!" Shouted Lamie. "Cease and desist!"

And just like that, the EM did, walking back to the scientists as if in a trance. They really hadn't been kidding about the control thing. But around the blood streaming down Fang's face, he was ashen and his eyes were unfocused as he blinked hard, trying to regain proper sight after being flung into the wall multiple times.

Breathing heavily, the Asian turned to me. He seemed to struggle for words, shaking his head as he polished his glasses again but finally decided on a puzzled, "What did you call me?"

"Lamie." I said slowly. "You know, short for Little Asian Man. Then I added the –ie because shouting 'Lamie' has more satisfaction than shouting 'Lam.' I mean, I'm not a sheepherder."

He seemed lost for words. Score one for Max. But Emilie Roux was not impressed, stalking towards me and attempting to slap me until I disarmed her and sent her staggering back, clutching her arm to her chest and landing flat on her behind. Her perfectly make-upped face was blotched with fury.

"'Ow… 'ow dare you even suggest zat I would do such a thing!" She shrieked, looking exactly the part of unhinged delusional megalomaniac. "I would never-"

"Sleep with all of them." Said Iggy plenty loud enough to make sure that he wasn't muttering to himself. "We're quite aware of that. Max meant just the men. She figured you'd buy your way in with the women professors."

"What's 'hook up' mean, Max?" Asked Angel innocently, peeking out from between her fingers.

"Well, Angel," I began, grinning evilly at the scientists, their mouths fallen wide open. I swore I could see a few flies swarming around inside them. "It means when someone like-"

The scientists began to override me with choruses of "ENOUGH!" But, I'm not an EM with a little 'take orders' chip. Sort of the exact opposite. So basically it was chaos while I wasted time and yelled at the scientists for interrupting me (making small talk on my part, no way would I ever explain a hook up to Angel, if she didn't already know) and they shouted right back but I totally beat them. It only ended when the EM, who had dropped Fang in the confusion of having Iggy and Ella lashing at his ankles, grabbed him back up by his tied ankles and began to shake him upside down. He only stopped when the scientists had straightened their clothing (and for Emilie, the white coat over her prim little outfit), taking plenty of time, and Lamie held up a hand. Fang was coughing violently, curling his spine in an attempt to get upright, but otherwise silent, giving nothing to the whitecoats.

Lamie offered a cold voiced Arnold Schwarzenegger "We'll be back" and, trying to retain what dignity he had, lead the group out of the sliding doors. Roux clapped once, and the EM stayed a moment longer with the Cubik to properly secure Fang back to the wall, then punched in the code and limped after the whitecoats.

"Fang?" Nudge asked after a moment, scrambling closer to him despite her chains. "You okay? What are you doing?"

Fang didn't answer, biting his lip so tightly I swore he would draw even more blood. I foresaw what he was doing a moment before his arm _pop_ped back into place and glanced away. Dislocated arms of all things are the one bodily injury that make me queasy. Arm relatively fixed, he stretched both out as if testing them, winced slightly, and leaned back up against the wall, coughing once or twice before falling silent.

"I think you managed to dislocate his kneecap." Iggy offered, trying to theoretically look on the bright side. "And Ella and I got his feet really well."

"Thanks." He croaked, a small smile on his lips as he peeked his eyes open to glance at Ig and Ella. "They're really tall." Then he dropped his head back against the wall, and I watched in silence for a moment, sort of confused until he finally smiled. Like, a full smile.

"What is so funny?" I asked hotly. "Please tell me they didn't permanently damage your brain or anything. That would so not be helpful."

"Lamie?" He asked, smile fading but a grin in his voice. I breathed easier and allowed the concern to seep in. He sat crumpled and breathed heavily, as if each inhalation cost him dearly. I had no doubt his ribs would bruised.

And he had done it for me.

"Well, none of them said his name out loud so I had to come up with one." I defended, sniffing and trying not to let on to how relieved I was. "Little Asian Man With Glasses didn't have the same ring."

"It can be his Indian name." Said Angel with a small smile, making the rest of us brighten somewhat.

Mom's mouth twitched, but she didn't commit to any small talk, turning directly to Fang despite the chains and being all the way across the room and assumed parental figure and doctor role.

"Fang? Are those cuts deep?"

He tried to shake his head, grimaced and decided against it, and said "No," even though it was slightly muffled around the scrap of fabric Nudge had handed him that he held to his face. After a few more moments of heavy silence, his dark eyes opened over the top of the rag and glanced around the room. I was glad to see that they were now clear and somewhat alert, albeit the dark circles under his eyes.

Come to think of it, we were all a mess. Ella was bruised, battered, and scraped all over, as was Iggy, trying to elevate one of his feet on the other. Mom was stretching out a leg, biting her lip as the muscle pulled. Fang was definitely worse with a sprained ankle, still weak arm from the gunshot wound, leftover sickness, and the injuries from the last ten minutes.

Speaking of which…

"Hey, Fang?"

He didn't need more than my tone of voice to open his eyes again and look at me from across the room. He didn't move his legs, stretched out in front of him, or his arms, folded across his chest, but I could see the warm flicker in his otherwise emotionless eyes.

"Anytime." He murmured quietly, blinking once before closing his eyes again.

"You guys should get some sleep." Mom offered, looking from Fang to me and then to everyone else, sprawled out in various positions across the floor. "It's been a long… while."

"First watch." I claimed automatically, and there was no pause between my voice and then Fang staking out second, and then Iggy muttering about how we always had the same watches so it was stupid to call them over and over again. Mom pulled a face like she had meant for us all to get some sleep, but that would be impossible. At least one of us would have a warning if they decided to gas us or something. And yet… not to my surprise, of course, but an hour later, Nudge, Gaz, Angel, and Total were the only ones snoozing in their respective sleeping quarters. 'Respective sleeping quarters' in this context meaning 'where they lay on the floor chained to a wall.'

"I've been thinking," Murmured Iggy quietly, yet still managing to cause everyone still awake to start a little, then settle back down. Tall bird kid in question was sitting with his back to the wall, sightless sapphire eyes staring upwards. "If there are vents in the ceiling. Can you tell?"

"Nah, its solid." I replied, only bothering with a glance towards the painted cement. "Why?"

"Vents are brilliant trails, if you spread something along. Gunpowder, for instance."

Usually, this was a perfectly acceptable answer from the fourteen year old pyro, but his sarcastic tone said he wasn't serious about the gunpowder. Or at least, using the possible vents for a gunpowder trail. Knowing him, it would work out anyway.

"I was thinking about possible escape routes."

Ah.

It was silent again for a few moments until I asked, "Would the rooms below a vent system with a trail of gunpowder catch on fire?"

I ignored the look Fang sent me.

"Depends on the amount of gunpowder and other such variables. If the ceiling's thin, like just has those fake tiles that you can push up and crawl into to fix pipes and such, you probably shouldn't be in the room at the time the vent is on fire."

Good to know.

"And what calls up these desperate measures?" I asked with a small smile. "Are we planning on crawling along behind a fire in a vent to our eventual escape?"

I apparently had said something very wrong because Iggy raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes to look somewhere around my ear. Again, he's not perfect, but I could still see how aghast he was at this comment.

"The vent would be on fire. It would be impossible to crawl in, even after the fire had burned through."

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry."

We lapsed into silence again, and as the room grew heavier with quiet, our dire situation really began to sink in, but just as I began to really wallow in group-pity and go over absolutely every escape I had ever made ranging from the castle in Germany to getting away from Iggy back when we were twelve in an incident involving a bowl of water and a sleeping birdkid, the door slid open again and I learned the meaning of Lamie's words, "We'll be back."

It was the scientists again, all right. This time though, they held the good ol' fashioned clipboard and the Cubik had retired elsewhere. We were still graced with the presence of the EM and nine of his buddies and they seemed to enjoy kicking the formerly sleeping Flock members awake. There was no wasted time, just a neat procession of stuffing each of us into an individual cage and placing us on a long extended rolling cart, which of course was oh-so reassuring. We didn't say much, aside Total singing a soft, "We're Off to See the Wizard" as we began to roll down the hall. I couldn't tell where we were heading exactly, but I knew it was in the opposite direction of the room they had used to bait us, the one filled with blood. So I did the natural thing and asked.

"Hey, Lamie?" He was leading our procession.

"Hey, Mutant?"

I ignored the jibe, I'd gotten it enough even though it made mom bristle. "Where're we going?"

"To watch your punishment."

I know, cue the ominous music, right?


	49. Not the Only One

**Chapter Forty-Nine**

** First, I want to apologize to everyone who follows this story for my inability to update but especially to Turtlelover to whom I promised I would update Saturday (two days ago), so this chapter is dedicated to all my reviewers who deal with me but especially Turtlelover for your PM and care and Geranium Rose for the multiple reviews and Maddy for the laughs and I can't say everyone, but basically a lot. Serein, Charlie, don't think you're to be left out either! Thanks, you all totally rock my crazy knee length socks even if I haven't updated in ages.**

** Bubbley-chan-thanks for reviewing every chapter, and yes, I was going for the Terminator, glad you caught it –smiles-**

** Serein-umm… thank you? Beyond everything? But at least JP can make a deadline… Well, that's basically lacrosse. Waving sticks, chopping heads, I won't go into details to spare the innocent :D**

** StarofCalamity-thanks for the review!**

** emotionalpoemgirl-I feel like Lamie should feel a little special at being picked out for a nickname… he probably had no friends in school and never got one. Thank you so much!**

** bb1028-sorry for the wait, thanks for the review.**

** Maddy, not only did I laugh when I read about your method of dealing with EMs and scientists, but I'm still laughing. Major thank you necessary and I'm finding it useless that I asked everyone for thank yous ages back because I never use them anymore… so sad. I appreciated them anyway. Now I'm rambling and you just want the chapter, so I'll scoot.**

** Charlie Ride-your voice is fantastic, you must practice ominous music a lot because you're very talented in that department-grins-and huge thank you for that compliment. A replacement for **_**FANG **_**would be brilliant, and yes, I do know the questions. I loved them. I also thought the note at the end was the saddest, sweetest thing I'd ever read, but completely unnessecary because the flock should've stayed together! Roar! Anyway, as I said to Maddy, you probably don't want to hear me make dinosaur noises and just want the chapter, so I'll move on. But still thanks.**

** I appreciated the reviews, Geranium Rose, and don't worry about not reviewing the previous chapter. We all get busy. It happens. But I feel totally touched that my story makes your day, a sort of glowy feeling that sappy writers like me get when they realize people actually appreciate their work. I'm glad I get Max well, because I really despise it when she goes all Fang-lovey-dovey and they completely lose themselves. For this I think you'd like Guy Bonding Fest-I forget who it's by, but its in my favorites or you can just search it if interested. Its 14 chapters I think and fabulous and your reviews reminded me of it. So enormous thank you!**

** death-I feel appreciated not being threatened :D and also am really glad for the reviews!**

** Winged-Vampyre-Gallagher-Girl-ack, sorry! **

** turtlelover0511-I try, huge thank you and I'm so sorry for not updating when promised. I really appreciated both the review and the message. You must be so sick of hearing my apologies…**

** AdinaBina24-thank you so, so much! Sorry for the pause in the update, but I'm glad you like it.**

** Evangeline the Gothic Angel-I hope you like this chapter better then, just so it doesn't make you cry **

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-thanks for the review and that most definitely would have worked-Total singing. –chuckle-**

** M(ello)ailJeevas-the little clip from the last chapter is for you-thank you! I'm not James Patterson (I'm female and trying to pass my English and Latin exams later this week) but thank you for granting me the honor of getting the longest review you've ever written and you have made my day/night. Granted, the funds and Florida residence would be pretty awesome if I was JP… hmm… Anyway, thank you so much, Mello.**

** Song Petal-two reviews! I love it! And how you compared **_**FANG **_**to **_**New Moon**_**, you totally got it. We do **_**not **_**need another **_**Twilight saga! **_** I feel like that's what happening to the site, all the Fang craze is light the Edward v. Jacob craze. Call it selfish, but I feel like **_**MR **_**is sort of a secret exclusive club with a ton of rocking members and I don't want to lost all our amazingness by going **_**Twilight **_**(As in the crazy-a** fangirls). And I will keep your promise in mind if a guy ever does that to me and help you out if it happens to someone else. We can beat him up together and chase him back towards who he loves.**

** MaxandFangforever-yeah, they're pretty sicko scientists. Thanks for the review, hope I can answer your questions.**

** animalgirl127-thank you so much and sorry for the wait!**

** And now after replying to all you fabulous people I just want to shout out a major THANK YOU to all of you for keeping me going even when I have writer's block or aren't feeling up to writing or anything. 401 freaking reviews people. That's amazing. Love you all, sorry for the wait, and without further ado, I give you the last part of my last chapter and then the much awaited chapter forty-nine!**

_**From chapter Forty-Eight…**_

_ We lapsed into silence again, and as the room grew heavier with quiet, our dire situation really began to sink in, but just as I began to really wallow in group-pity and go over absolutely every escape I had ever made ranging from the castle in Germany to getting away from Iggy back when we were twelve in an incident involving a bowl of water and a sleeping birdkid, the door slid open again and I learned the meaning of Lamie's words, "We'll be back."_

_It was the scientists again, all right. This time though, they held the good ol' fashioned clipboard and the Cubik had retired elsewhere. We were still graced with the presence of the EM and nine of his buddies and they seemed to enjoy kicking the formerly sleeping Flock members awake. There was no wasted time, just a neat procession of stuffing each of us into an individual cage and placing us on a long extended rolling cart, which of course was oh-so reassuring. We didn't say much, aside Total singing a soft, "We're Off to See the Wizard" as we began to roll down the hall. I couldn't tell where we were heading exactly, but I knew it was in the opposite direction of the room they had used to bait us, the one filled with blood. So I did the natural thing and asked._

_"Hey, Lamie?" He was leading our procession._

_"Hey, Mutant?"_

_I ignored the jibe, I'd gotten it enough even though it made mom bristle. "Where're we going?"_

_"To watch your punishment."_

_I know, cue the ominous music, right?_

**Chapter Forty-Nine**

So you'd think, being evil, sadistic, let's-take-over-the-world scientists, that my punishment would be something like swimming in a giant pool that happened to be the same temperature as, say, the Atlantic when the _Titanic _sunk or they might square me up against fifty gun-happy Elite Men. In the least water torture might come to mind. But it wasn't.

It was worse.

"You want me to _bake?_" I blanched, looking at the three whitecoats with wide eyes from my new position tied to a wheelchair.

"It's lunchtime." Said Lamie with a creepy little smile. To think I had guessed that he of all people would be the one planning the _Titanic _torture or something. "And I haven't eaten anything since four this morning. As of right now, you're too valuable to destroy, so this is all you'll get for your cheek."

"But don't let it get to your head." Said the other man, Ruth the Canadian, with a slightly animalistic growl. "If you become more of a nuisance than an asset, that will change. You should be glad of this easy break and cooperate."

Roux sniffed, eyeing me with distaste through her straightened blonde hair. "I still think eet is too simple. She should be beaten for what she said to us."

Lamie and Ruth both glared at her with a look that said, "Shut up or I'll eat you!" So she looked down and muttered soundlessly to her feet. And they had _me _ in the cage…

"No." I shook my head vigorously. No way was I going to bake anything with my family locked in cages in the same room. If I set off an inferno, their deaths would be both unbearable and my fault. Plus, I couldn't concentrate when nearly of them were cracking up at this psychotic plot. "You don't understand. I can't cook."

"I 'ighly doubt zat!" The French woman snapped, glancing up to glare at me. Oh, if my hands weren't tied back I'd break that perfect little nose so quickly... Anyway, she waved her hand to the side as if I were a fly she could swat away. "'ow else would you 'ave practically raised the rest of your group?"

"I didn't cook." I protested, eyeing the butcher knives lining the wall somewhat warily and also wondering how easy it would be to throw a knife. Damn Jeb for never teaching us Weapons of the Kitchen 101. Even though these were padlocked, I wondered how angry I'd have to get the scientists for them to go all Sweeney Todd on me.

"Then who does?" Lamie smirked condescendingly. "The black one? The dark one? Or," He began to laugh, glancing at his coworkers in a chummy sort of way. "Are you going to suggest the blind one?"

I decided this wasn't the best time to snap about names, given the catastrophic event they were going to allow to happen, and instead tried for reason. "He can make a mean strawberry shortcake, and Fang is actually really good at macaroni and lasagna. Oh, and Nudge is good at muffins. You like muffins, don't you? And strawberry sugary goodness? I set toast on fire. I'm not even kidding. Have I mentioned how wonderful muffins are? They come in all sorts of flavors."

"Damn feminists. We get it-you have rights, but that does not mean you cannot cook!"

"Right you are, Ruthie." I nodded. "We just ask that we share in the housework. This is more of a personal thing, a safety hazard thing. The Director probably wouldn't like it if experiments worth millions of dollars were killed in an oven explosion. Yo, guys, it's your loss if you die of smoke inhalation."

This, funnily enough, did not seem to help with their apparent overdose of happy gas. Nor did it help the crazy scientists in their psychotic decision. Basically, they left the small (white) kitchen to sit at a little table in the adjoining cafeteria and compare notes while out of earshot so I couldn't bother them unless I shouted. They had left my family, still caged, in the room, and five EMs, one of which stepped forward and untied me. He cautioned me that he would shoot someone if I acted out of order without a moment's hesitation, then stepped back to join his compadres.

"Yo, Lamie and co.!" I jumped to stand in my wheelchair, waving just to get under their skin as I caught their attention. It clearly irked Roux and Ruth, but Lamie rubbed his glasses on his coat and then resignedly waved back. I figured he was paying attention.

"What happens if I don't cooperate?"

I could see him roll his eyes and exchange an irritated look with the other two.

"What is the name of your friend again?" He called.

"Fang!" I replied plenty loud enough, but I could tell the excessive use of my vocal chords hurt his ears is in the echo-y caf.

"Right. Well, we'll put a bullet through his leg or something."

There goes that plan. I hopped down from the iron bolted wheelchair, eyeing the EMs as I kept my hands in plain view and folded down a few feet away from the cages.

"Okay." I tried my best leaderly tone but resigned it when I realized I would have to ask someone what to do.

"We're screwed." Iggy shook his head. "With a capital SC."

"Have a little faith," Mom advised, but her face was pale as she took stock of the situation. "Go do an inventory, and I'll help from there. Capiche?"

"Capiche." I nodded, grinning encouragingly to the nervous younger ones and getting to my feet to check out the humming refrigerator and surrounding cupboards.

To summarize:

A helluva lot of Greek yogurt. Mostly in vanilla flavor, but there were a few blueberry and a rather suspicious peach whose expiration date I didn't want to know.

There was an array of fresh veggies, which included by are not limited to lettuce, something mom called kale, carrots, tomatoes ("actually a fruit," intoned Iggy), some peas, bean sprouts and a cucumber that had seen better days. Apparently this was also a fruit. I closed the crisper and moved on past the deli meat section, the condiments sections, and the half empty gallon of skim milk. With such a well-stocked fridge, I wondered if some of the scientists slept here overnight. I remembered when Jeb would go away for a few days at a time and supposed he could have stayed at the School. It was a repulsive thought.

Perishables aside, there were basic baking goods like flour and baking soda and sugar (brown and white, I hadn't previously known that there were multiple types.) Then some crackers, bread, various cereal brands, and about four jumbo boxes of rainbow goldfish. I didn't mention this but stored it away for future use. That was it for edible materials, under the sink were cleaning supplies that I bet Ig and Gaz would have given an arm and a leg for.

In short, I was clueless.

Plus, I was really hungry, so my concentration level was at about zip. Together, we had a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, that kind of recipe would not be very tasteful and was such a bad pun that I hit my forehead.

"I could totally use a chocolate chip cookie." I muttered to myself, glancing around slightly helplessly and trying not to let the EMs know how much they were freaking me out.

That was when I noticed the chocolate chips.

Coincidence? I think not.

The Flock made me sit in front of the oven for twelve and a half minutes to watch the cookies bake and be sure that I didn't burn them. I had been convinced they would turn out awfully, but they smelled delicious and looked pretty perfect when I pulled them out of the oven. But, as exciting as the experience was, I called the scientists over with a dog whistle and watched them troop over to the kitchen.

"Cookies?" Roux inhaled deeply, eyeing both them and me with distaste. "For lunch? Is this a joke?"

"I like cookies." Ruth grinned. "And I knew the little brat could cook."

It took all I could not to him then and there, but the EMs had taken up their guns as if expecting this. Now onto… Plan H?

"I heard an American saying once," Lamie admitted, getting plates for them all (little brightly colored ones, too! I will never understand these people.) "It went something like, 'life is short, eat dessert first.'"

Rouz laughed sardonically at this, although the hypocrite did take a cookie and dunk it in the glass of milk that Ruth offered. "Which explains why America is growing to be one of ze fattest populations on earth."

I'm not really someone for statistics, but I do like being obnoxious toward those I don't like, so I started singing the song "I'm Fat," a Weird Al parody I knew all the words to because of the number of times the Gasman had treated us to a performance. This really seemed to tick off the munching whitecoats and I was graciously granted my own personal armed EM. I totally knew I was going to get some good ol' Flock TLC-teasing loving care-late for the somehow successful cookies, but personally I was pretty proud of myself. Even if mom had coached me through the entire experience. The only downside was that after three cookies each they were still hungry and had me make them sandwiches and then of course I was caged again and we were all toted back to the room.

The only upsides were actually halfway decent. I had pleased them (bad), but they left us alone (good) and Roux may have had ulterior motives for giving us a Ziploc bag with the remaining thirty-three cookies like preserving her skinny figure, but none of us had eaten in twenty-four hours minimum and we were ravenous. There was no complaining or squabbling over the crispy ones either. We each (including Total who was pleased with my "culinary advances") had three with six left over, which mom, Ells, and Total all insisted on giving to us. So, all in all, four. Not very much for a meal, not very many calories, but there were both white and milk chocolate chips and lots of butter so hopefully they would sustain us for a little while. Personally, I'm not into the whole emaciated thing. We'd have to talk to the dear scientists about both that and sanitary habits because I could freaking smell myself. That was a problem. I decided to take it up next time we saw them, after a bit of unrestful sleep.

That was when surprise number three came (the first being I could cook (!) and the second that we had gotten anything in return.) These whitecoats sure like to keep us guessing! Anyway, Lamie showed up alone except for a little Cubik who balanced paper and pens on top of its little boxy head.

"Before I hand these to you," He began rubbing his glasses again. "I want to explain the new way things work around here. You probably have not hear or figured out that cooperation gets you fed, as do tasks granted by your keepers."

"Jailers, more like." I interrupted, any previous cookie induced good mood evaporating quickly. "We're not zoo animals-"

"Sources tell me you need about four thousand calories a day _at least _to stay healthy. I would watch your tongue as the longevity of your family depends on it." He plowed over my voice coolly as if nothing in the world bothered him. I wondered if he left the others behind so there wouldn't be any verbal wars.

"As I said, your good behavior while executing our tests will earn you food and privileges, like clean clothing. Fail to do so and we will fail to meet these needs. Your tasks will both allow the scientists to gather information about you and let you earn your meals. This survey is your first task. If you all answer according to your views and opinions, you will be rewarded with two peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches each. I will return in twenty minutes to collect your answers."

Just like that, he turned on his heel and left the little Cubik to wheel around to the foot of my cage, waiting for me to stick my finger through the bars of the cage to reach for the paper.

I had some anxieties, but I figured that they weren't BSing us this time, and I took a pen advertising Abilify medicine on the side ("Please see accompanying full PRESCRIBING INFORMATION including boxed warning.") Guess they're used to bribe anyone selling over the counter drugs. _Sell my product, I'll give you a supply of pens! _ It was a spiffy little writing utensil.

"Name." Nudge read aloud when she got hers. "Please print. Date-oh, they filled it out for us. How kind. It's the seventeenth of May."

This made mom lose any remaining color. It had been two days since they had taken their walk to the desert and Angel and I had gone on a recon mission. I didn't seem like a long time when we had been living with her and Ella, but in here, when we had no control over what was happening, it seemed like an age. It made me angry to see her trying to cover up her fear, made me furious that Iggy had taken a paper just for good show and was now folding it into a paper airplane, made me angry how silent everyone had been, even Total. We were going to escape, I resolved. We had to. Now that we had tasted freedom, we physically couldn't go back. But I guessed a little more good might help that endeavor, and so I asked Ella to help Ig when she was done, asked Angel to fill out the answers for Total who had not been granted a paw-ready pen, and looked down at my own sheet.

_Name: _Maximum Ride

_Date: May 17__th_

_Species: _Grinning, I scribbled out _Avian American_and moved to the next question.

_Do you think it is okay to (place first initial next to all that apply):_

_ Fight for religious views_

_M Fight for rights_

_ Fight for leadership_

_ Fight to eliminate a lesser species_

_ Fight for most nuclear weaponry power_

_M Fight for someone else_

_M Fight even if it goes against the law_

_ Fight even if it goes against your personal opinion_

_ Fight to annihilate another group of organisms_

_M Fight for land_

_M Other (please specify): _I believe in fighting for what you believe in.

That one took some thought. There were a few instances where I could debate those choices, but judging by the scientists that had put this together, I doubted I would get the chance.

"What do they mean by 'what kind of weapons are your favorite and why?'" Angel asked, her little brown puckering in confusion.

"Your favorite way of fighting." I told her gently, looking question six. "And then explain why."

"What about," Frowned the Gasser. "'What kind of fighting do you think is fair?'"

"What number?" I asked.

"Eleven."

I glanced at the footnote. "'If everyone was required to use the same weapons in battle, what do you think is fair? A. Physical contact only. B. Sword. C. Gun. D. Knife. E. Bomb.'" I checked sword whereas I believe I knew what the cackling Gasman put down.

The questions were similar, all involving fighting and violence of some kind. What punishment do you find appropriate for tyranny, what should be the minimum age requirement for enlisting in the army, cavalry versus cars for travel, should everyone know basic first aid… I grew weary of them long before the thirty-second, the last, and then the space that said _Signature (do not print):_ Maximum Ride. God knows I can't read cursive, let alone use the flowery and useless print.

Total and Ang were the last to finish and we compared answers for a while until Lamie came back with the promised sandwiches and all matter of arguing whether or not uniforms should be necessary in a fighting group was lost as we devoured the food. Only after did I realize we had no idea when our next meal, but Fang seemed to be reading my mind and whispered that we didn't know when outside either. He didn't waste breath telling me to relax, and even if he had it would have been insincere because he was uncrossing and extended his long legs out in a way that had long passed stretching and merged into nervous habit.

We'd been chained back in at random, and he was on my left. My right was to a wall, but next to him was Iggy, then Ella, then Angel, Mom, Total, and the Gasman. Gaz was drawing invisible pictures on the floor with his finger, then he would stare at them a while before pulling back and staring at what only he could see.

"Watcha drawing, Gazzy?" Angel asked, scooting over on her belly in a very penguin like way to get as close to her brother as she could. The game had been an old pastime of theirs when bored. One of would have to guess what the other was drawing or writing and then they'd switch. It used to occupy them for hours whenever the kitchen counter was clean.

"Us in New York." He said. "That's the skyline, see? And then there's the ocean and the beach. Max is standing about knee deep in the waves, where you're playing, but she's looking to the city looking for the Institute 'cause she never relaxes even though you keep asking her to play hide and seek with her." The pictures were always like this, deep, as if they were actually happening. His matter of fact nearly brought tears to my eyes, but I blinked a few times and looked at my hands as he continued. "Fang is on the beach, alternating between reading the news and looking out as if he thinks an Eraser or something is going to jump out at us any second." This time it was Fang looking down guiltily. "Iggy's sitting nearby, finishing the sandcastle that he helped Angel build, but," He drew a streak across the floor. "Total was running from the waves and just snowplowed into it."

Yes, he was eight years old. Yes, he had that eight year old sense of humor that went hand in hand with Weird Al and bad knock-knock jokes. Yes, I shut my eyes and allowed his small voice to carry me someplace far away from this hell in the middle of nowhere, and I knew I wasn't the only one doing so.


	50. Why Was Cinderella Bad at Soccer?

**Chapter Fifty**

** Uh, wow? Chapter fifty? Not that it didn't take me long enough to get here… Quick thank you to everyone who reviewed and read and favorited (I know who you are, but I think you want me to get going with the story, huh?)**

** Though quick suggestion before you go: if you like to read/write go to teenink dot com. Cool stuff. **

The cheap thrill I had felt after each of us had been taken away separately, given fresh clothes and a bathroom break and then dunked in warm water enough to be clean was quickly wearing off with yet another chorus of eight year old humor.

"Why was Cinderella bad at soccer?" Gazzy crowed, tossing his shoe at Iggy when he rolled his eyes. "C'mon, guys. Why?"

"I dunno, Gaz." Mom sighed heavily, leaning her head back against the wall in defeat. "Why?"

"Because her coach was a pumpkin! Geddit? Her _coach _was a _pumpkin_! Like, the thing you ride in to balls, and the person who teaches you how to play…"

I stifled a groan.

"How about this, Gasman." Ella proper herself up, not minding the chains at her wrists and ankles, but there was clearly a challenge in her eye. "Why was Cinderella bad at lacrosse?"

He grinned merrily. "I don't know!"

"Because she only had one shoe."

It was a sign at how lame this joke was that I managed a half-laugh.

"How about this," He began, clearing his throat. "Knock-knock?"

I sighed. I thought we had finished the knock-knock joke section an hour ago.

"You gotta say 'who's there' or it doesn't work." He pouted, which prompted a dull, "Who's there" from Angel.

"Garden!"

"Garden who?" She asked.

"G_arrr_den your treasure, matees!"

_"Attention mutants!" _

We all jumped, rattling the chains, as the crackly voice came over the intercom. I didn't see why they couldn't improve their intercoms so that the scratchy sound didn't impale sensitive mutant eardrums every time they decided to grace us with their presence, I mean, they obviously had enough money. I rolled my eyes in Fang's direction and began to run through a mental list of punches I could throw with my hands restricted by chains. Lamy entered a moment later with a little Cubik, which simultaneously dimmed the lights and flashed a projector onto the blank wall while the man addressed us.

The blue light from the blank screen reflected off of Lamy's glasses as he rubbed them clean with his jacket. Total coughed, "Sloppy," In a not very discreet way.

"It has come to our attention," He began, glaring at Total, "That you have recently taken it upon yourselves to watch videos of your younger selves to see if there is anything you can gather that will help you save the world. The Director instructed me to show you this, because since you obviously don't have any problems invading our business, you need to learn a lesson in privacy. Cue number nine-three-zero-zero-seven, Cubik."

He turned from us, leaving enough time for Fang and I to exchange a _WTF _glance and then turn back to the screen as it flickered to life. I had all intentions of ignoring the video and making small talk with Ella the entire video, until I saw the starring character.

It was Fang, sitting in our familiar E house kitchen and flicking half-heartedly through a newspaper at the table. It was either really early or really late, the sun wasn't out yet. He had turned a side lamp on, casting weird shadows against the stairs behind the kitchen and the lumpy furniture in the attached living room. Snow was piled against the big picture window. He had just gotten up, grabbing a glass bowl from the cabinet when another door off the kitchen opened to reveal Jeb-dressed to kill with a suit and the Dreaded Briefcase.

My mouth had dropped, speechless, at this unprecedented violation of our home. But Fang on screen was oblivious to his recording, whipping around and dropping the bowl. It shattered on the wooden floor but was forgotten as he fell into an instinctive defensive stance. When he realized who had surprised him, his eyes flickered in recognition and-I was sure I was the only one who could tell-embarrassment that he had let Jeb catch him unaware. With a dark look for a ten year old, he swept the bowl fragments into the trash and quickly made for the stairs.

"Fang?"

He paused, one foot on the first step. Jeb had lowered his case and was watching him with concern. When Fang didn't reply, he plowed on.

"Why are you awake?"

A shrug. He didn't turn around. From the angle of the camera you could see half of his face and his carefully measured expression that was much too mature for a kid his age. I glanced at the fourteen year old, handcuffed nearby, and their faces matched. It made my heart ache to see the same closed expressions, to remember how early we had to learn to cope with all the crap that gets thrown at us. On screen, Jeb cleared his throat.

"Is everything okay?"

A quick nod. As if he would say anything else. I could tell this irked Little Asian Man.

Jeb tried again. He was always doing that, trying to get Fang to talk more as if speech were a muscle he was stretching. Fang hated it. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

He shook his head and began to look hopeful as a moment passed and Jeb didn't speak again.

"You're up awful early."

His lip twitched. I could tell how the comment angered him.

"So are you."

Jeb smiled to himself. "I'm an adult. You're a growing ten year old. You need your sleep."

This didn't exactly produce what Jeb had been looking for-a sardonic snort of disbelief. Jeb frowned, wondering what he had said that provoked this reaction. After a moment of contemplation, he must have decided it was too early and sat at the kitchen table, across from the seat Fang had vacated.

"I'm tired." Fang said stiffly, still not turning. His eyes were glued to the top of the stairs, willing Jeb to leave him alone.

"But you have no intention of sleeping."

Fang rolled his eyes, but made no reply.

"I've noticed how little you sleep, Fang." Jeb continued conversationally, as if this was normal. Who knows? I didn't remember any such confrontations, hearing about them or witnessing. For all I knew, this had been common between the two. I tried to catch Fang's eye, but he was looking at the pattern of the tiles on the floor and wouldn't look at me. If these were common, I knew it was by no fault of Fangs.

"You don't act lethargic, but your eyes are swollen and shadowed. You can't fly as far as I know you should. Max beats you in almost every fight nowadays."

This last comment visibly angered him, a small line puckering his brow.

"Something's up. Bad dreams?"

A shrug.

"Scary things?"

A shrug.

Jeb rolled his eyes, realizing where this was going. "Terrorists invading your room and setting up camp, singing Sesame Street songs?"

Fang was consistent. He shrugged again. Jeb took a sip of his coffee. "I can pick up some medication when I'm out if you want."

Although Jeb had wanted a legitimate response, this was obviously the wrong kind. The entire Flock and I had winced at this comment, and I had a pretty good guess at what was coming. Fang spun around, his hands gripping the railing tightly as he practically snarled, "Typical."

I knew this expression, this asking for a fight tone. I knew how screwed Jeb was, and how screwed up Fang must have felt to use it.

Jeb set his coffee down with a frown. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Is that supposed to be insulting?" Jeb asked him, rising from his chair. Fang raised his chin.

"Depends on how you interpret it."

Jeb bristled. "And how do you?"

Fang looked torn between insulting him further and staying silent, which he knew would irritate Jeb. The question is, which would be worse?

"You push drugs because you're a whitecoat at heart." He said, dangerously quiet. "All this," He gestured around him with a jerk of his head, "Is just to satisfy your inner scientist. That's where you go, isn't it? Back to the School, back to meetings with other whitecoats."

Jeb was speechless, gaping like a fish, but Fang plowed on.

"We're not stopping you." He spat. "Go buddy up with your old friends."

"Don't you _dare _take that tone with me!"

"Is that a threat?" Asked Fang in a feral sort of way. "Like you didn't have enough of that back at the School."

I looked at the pair of them. Fang's normally expressionless face was contorted with fury, his shoulders hunched and his fists clenched in a way that made me wonder if Jeb had gotten of this unscathed. Next to Fang's ashy face, Jeb more resembled a tomato pulsating with rage-at being addressed like this? I couldn't tell anymore-he had stood, vibrating with tension as he stood down my best friend.

"You have no ideas what I went through at the School." Jeb hissed out of his clenched teeth. He raised his fist. "You have no idea what I faced-"

"What _you _faced?" Fang's voice had peaked with his anger, but due to our training and paranoia, neither he nor Jeb were shouting outright. I wondered how long it would last. "What you faced? You weren't the one locked in a cage. You weren't the one _tortured _day in and day out for the sake of science! You never fainted halfway through a test-because you were never tested like we were! Don't try to sell me any more total crap. I have my limits."

Jeb seethed, grabbing his head and pacing in a circle before looking again to Fang. "Aren't you a part of that Flock upstairs?"

Fang was past not speaking. "More than you ever will be."

"And goddammit, Fang, do you care about them?"

A nod of the head.

"And don't you trust Max?"

This was where Fang's breathing stopped. His dark eyes met Jeb's. Finally he drew a shaky breath.

"Max can be wrong sometimes. Told me herself."

"Do you trust her?" Jeb repeated firmly.

"I just said-"

"You didn't answer the question-"

"Yes, I do!"

Their voices had escalated into shouts, echoing in the glass and tile kitchen. At the same moment they seemed to realize their mistake, just as stumbling footsteps were heard over head. A light pitter patter.

"Fang?" Nudge called through a yawn at the top of the stairs. "'S everything okay?"

"Yes, Nudge." He called back, no longer shouting or even angry but in his usual calm and no nonsense tone. "I just stubbed my toe. Go back to bed."

She may have replied, but it was garbled and a few seconds later in the silence of the kitchen, you could hear her door click shut. It was Jeb, mopping his brow, who finally spoke.

"Fang, I don't understand."

Nudge had restored his sense. He didn't speak. He watched. He waited. Jeb spoke.

"Everyone up those stairs trusts me. They listen to me and high five me. They let me make waffles for them, instead of skipping breakfast when I do." Jeb had slowed his quiet tirade, looking at Fang with a shaking head as he collapsed in a chair. "I don't understand what I did to make you me so much."

Fang didn't look shocked, not even raising his eyebrows to give away any feeling. But his turned back said everything as he began to walk up the stairs. Jeb took one look at his retreating form and jumped to his feet.

"Fang! Please! I'm not placating you." He pleaded. Fang paused. "What did I do?"

Fang turned, shooting him one last icy glare. "You really don't know?"

Jeb shook his head.

"I'm not going to waste an explanation on you."

He darted up the stairs before Jeb could speak again, and then the screen blinked blue with a "No Signal" box and the whitecoat turned the lights back on. He smiled at us maliciously.

"Something to think about. Have a nice day."

Iggy was first to speak in the stunned silence that took over after the doors shut. "Was that real or did they photoshop it?"

"They're not that good." Nudge shook her head. "I could see the stain on the table where I spilled Kool-Aid, and the dishwasher was open. We had all those colorful plastic plates shaped like flowers, remember? And newspapers were covering the island countertop from when Angel, Gaz, and I made paper airplanes and hats. And then-"

"I _get _it, Nudge!" Iggy snapped. I didn't bother to rebuke him, for a number of reasons, numero uno being that we were all stressing out on how they'd manage to film this video, and if they had any others. Plus I had my mind on other things, namely Fang. When did this happen? How? Where was I to placate the pair of them? And why had I never heard of it until now, and through whitecoats, of all people? I knew that Fang had never really felt comfortable near Jeb, and he certainly openly despised him our first year of escape, but I figured he either mellowed out or kept it disguised as we grew older. Having seen the clip, which couldn't have been longer than six or seven minutes, I was beginning to believe the second option.

But now wasn't the time for such questions. Now was the time to ask whose head I should rip first for violating my best friend in such an awful way. Our home had been our sanctuary, and to learn that the whitecoats had somehow gotten their gloved hands on a secret video of _our lives _was the most disturbing thing I had seen in a long time. And if Nudge's description of the house wasn't enough, Fang's expression was. To everyone else, he was blank. But maybe I'd learned to interpret some of the emotions flitting in his dark eyes or maybe I'd learned a bit about him over the years. Either way, I could tell he was angry, hurt, worried, conflicted, wary, and utterly confused. He caught my eyes, but looked away before either of us had the chance to say anything. He didn't need to. I understood in the gesture just how lost and hopeless he really was.

"Fang?" That was mom, jolting me away from Thought Land with a very motherly voice.

"You can ask." He said very abruptly, though quiet.

She frowned, puzzled. "What?"

He sighed, taking a moment to reply. "What he did. You didn't do it, so I don't expect you to know."

I looked from one to the other, torn between curiosity about the truth behind the question-I had guessed but never confirmed, it wasn't my business-and defense of Fang. No matter how tough he was, he had just watched a video clip of himself, taken by his enemies, in the one place he had ever felt safe. I only knew how he felt because I felt it myself.

There was a soft expression in mom's brown eyes, the same look she gave me when she gave me a band aid for an insignificant cut or poured me an extra glass of lemonade. That motherly kindness that somehow felt almost as safe as our E house.

"I was going to ask if you still have trouble sleeping."

This seemed to amuse him for some reason, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly. "Not really."

I coughed. He managed a real smile, though small.

"Not as badly." He amended. I nodded.

"Well, Fang," Total coughed, announcing his presence for the first time and making me roll my eyes. He shook his coat out, licked a paw, then sat back on his haunches. "I am curious as to if you always so ardently despised Jeb. Was this fresh after you escaped, did you always, or was that just a moment of anger that Jeb read too much into? He truly was clueless-"

"I never trusted him, Total." Fang interrupted quietly, surprising us with the vocal answer. Usually he would have blown Total off, but maybe it was so he would stop talking and everyone would leave him alone. I wasn't sure. He coughed a few times and continued. "I only realized I hated him at the E house when he was playing saint."

I remembered how much this attitude used to irritate me, me who so blindly put my faith in the Jebster. Fang and I would actually get into fights because of something he said or the way he acted even though I would sometimes take his side or pose as Switzerland in the ongoing battle between the two. Looking at him now, the bruised face, crazy black hair, simple black clothes, the scars on his forearms, his long and slender fingers, I couldn't believe I had ever doubted the one person who I utterly and truly trusted in the entire world. He seemed to sense something and his eyelids flicked open and, for a moment, those dark obsidian eyes caught mine and he smiled my smile, and then Angel giggled and I turned my head slightly to glare at her.

"Well," Nudge broke the silence again. No surprises there. "I trust you, Fang."

He didn't move, but a moment later, he whispered, "Thanks, Nudge. I trust you, too."

Which, in our family, is basically like saying "I love you." But the Hallmark moment wouldn't be complete without Gazzy.

"Knock knock!" He giggled.

"Who's there?" Ella groaned.

"Thumping!"

…

"Guys, it doesn't work if you don't-"

"Who the hell is so important, Gasman?"

"Language, Iggy.

"Sorry, Max."

"_Guys…_"

"Who's there?"

He laughed, already in on the bunt of the joke. "Thumping green and slimy is crawling up your neck!"


	51. The Titanic

**Chapter Fifty-One**

**Hey, everyone! Ivyflightislistening here, along with some awesome reviewers/readers/favorite-ers.**

**Quick general announcement: Please read, IMPORTANT!**

** I don't know how many of you readers are girls, or how many of you know at least one girl that is important to you. Your mom, your sister, your cousin, friend, girlfriend, aunt, grandmother, whatever. I'm a girl; I have friends who are girls, a mom, a sister, and quite a few aunts and cousins. And they're all important to me.**

** But girls, usually between the ages of 10 and 20, are being hurt, by crazy people usually falling under these categories:**

** -Kidnappers**

** -Rapists**

** -Murderers**

** Pleasant, huh?**

** This doesn't just happen to people in the news. This happens too often, and its on the rise. Young women are being targeted, taken advantage of, raped, abducted, and sometimes killed. It's more common than you think.**

** Which is why I'm taking up so much space to get this point across.**

** We need to take a stand, girls. We need to let people know this is not okay. We need to defend ourselves against the guys who stake out bus stops (true), who wait outside of schools or houses or workplaces or in parking lots. There are predators out there, and we're not all Max who can kick some mega butt and fly away.**

_**Some statistics: (note, in America, but don't let it discourage you!)**_

___1 in 4 girls in middle or high school will be date raped before going to college._

_On average, a sexual predator has had 100 victims before being charged in court._

_1 in 4 girls will be the victims of sexual assault._

_Every 2 minutes, a girl in the USA is taken advantage of,_

_1 in 4 college girls will be the victim of sexual assault._

_1 in 2 rape victims is under the age of 18._

_26% of high school girls have been the victim of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or date forced sex._

** I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to take it. **

** Learn basic self defense moves that could save your life, the lives of your friends, and the lives of others if you're attacked and you can get away and maybe prosecute your attacker. Send it to all your friends. Don't be caught unaware.**

** Go to ****just yell fire dot org ****(no spaces, you know the drill) and watch this video free. I'm not kidding, ladies and gentlemen. **

**Anyway. Please do so. Take the time to read that note. You don't even have to review.**

**And sorry for not updating in ages!**

**emotionalpoemgirl-ha, yeah, it's a typical Gazzy thing.**

**GeraniumRose-thank you so, so, so much! It heartens me to hear that… and I worry about the next MR book. I'll read it, but I might just consider it a bad fanfiction and just continue writing/reading instead :D And I'll try to update more! Really I will. Cross my heart. Thank you!**

**Turtlelover0511-firstly, thank you for your PM-I'll never not respond unless you turn out to be some crazy creeper (see note above) or I'm dead or haven't logged on in ages or something… Really, it's wonderful that there are people like you out there that care. I'm okay, thanks for asking, just trying to make this chapter the best I can before updating… But I'm glad you liked the last one! Fang definitely didn't have the best time.**

**Serein Q-haha, no, it's perfectly acceptable to laugh. Gazzy's jokes are hilarious just because they're so awful.**

**Maddy-ack! Sorry, I'll go over and try to fix it. But thanks for reading/reviewing!**

**MAXFINGA-don't worry about it, MFG. I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**Goddess of the Flock-sorry it took so long! Thank you for the review and reading!**

**UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-heh heh heh… Jebmeister will get whatever he deserves, whether it's good or bad…**

**And without further ado (and huge thanks to everyone who's here), chapter fifty-one!**

"Good morning, everyone!" Lamy entered our cell, followed by Thing One, Thing Two, and an EM. I rolled my eyes, staving off a yawn. Iggy had woken us a moment before the four had entered, hearing their footsteps even through walls as thick as ours.

I stared Little Asian Man down until he at least gave us the courtesy of abandoning the sickly smile. "Your point?" I asked coldly, tired of beating around the bush. Tired of staying awake. Tired of the hell hole we were stuck in. Just plain _tired._

"Manners, Maximum." He sighed, as if I exhausted him or something, and sounding incredibly Voice-like.

I snorted. "I'm not about to take manners lessons from the guy who threw me in chains!"

Lamy rolled his eyes, sighing again. "I didn't throw you in chains."

"Yeah, but you certainly condone it. You support it-"

"Enough." He growled. I plowed on.

"You test the subjects that are chained, you mock them, you accept support from the guys who did chain us-"

He was shouting now, not showing very much restraint, while Ruth and Roux looked at their struggling colleague in amusement.

"I said _enough!_"

Not to be outdone, I bellowed back. "I wasn't done!"

"When I tell you to quiet down, you quiet down!" His face, tomatoey red, contorted in his fury. It made him look almost comical, and I could help my obnoxious smile, which didn't seem to help his anger management issues. I heard Fang and Iggy exchanging bets on how long this would go on.

"It might benefit you to know that I don't take orders easily, you sicko!"

"Watch your tongue!"

"You think 'sicko' is bad?" I laughed loudly. "I was holding back, unlike you, Mister Self-Serving Heap of Trash."

"I am your elder-"

"You think I fucking care, Yoda?"

"_Silence!" _

"Make me!"

"You don't think I can?"

I was about to rattle off another infuriating reply to make him step a few feet closer… close enough to hit, but French women must have really loud vocal chords as part of their genetic make-up. "No!" Roux yelled, her voice pitching loudly and making my eardrums ache. "Monsieur, you are encouraging 'er." She stepped in front of him, waving the other man down with a manicured hand. Even now, the room echoed with the effects of my vocal capacity. I wanted to keep it that way.

"I'm sorry," I said in a way that made it clear I wasn't. "Do you think you can control me?"

The French woman didn't reply verbally, clicking up to me in her heels and slapping me across the face. The room went dead quiet. Her unnaturally long fingernails stung on my face. Her cherry lips smiled cruelly.

"Miss Roux," I raised an eyebrow, not shifting from my aggressive stance. "What did you just do?"

Thinking she was out of my reach, she laughed. "I hit you."

I shook my head, clucking my tongue. I heard Angel snort, but kept my eyes trained on the woman. "No. You are in America, ma'am. I suggest you at least make an effort to recognize this with appropriate American slang. What you did is called a 'bitch slap,' named because of the common use of it by hormonal teenage girls on other hormonal teenage girls disputing over issues like clothes or boys. And," I paused, whipping an arm out around her neck to pull her closer and then round house kicking her across the room. "That is called, depending on the region you're in, either having your butt whupped or your ass kicked. Your choice. Now, Lamy, what were you saying about knowing how to shut me up?"

For a moment Lamy was speechless, reveling in the mess of Ruth trying to help Roux to her feet in six inch heels and my family, all roaring in laughter.

"Pay up." I heard Fang mutter to Iggy.

_"Stop it!" _Lamy shouted, in near hysterics. "Quiet, all of you!"

I spat at him, which must have been the last straw because he snapped his fingers and the EM charged. I had been expecting this and quickly threw out my hands to deflect his knife with the chains, causing it to skitter across the room towards the Canadian. Now its claws were raking towards my face and I twisted to the side, ducked, and I caught one of his arms with a well placed kick. This dragged his left side to the ground with my foot, trapping him no matter how strong he was.

Now by my writing I might be giving the impression that this was easy. It was not. An EM has more muscle mass than an Eraser and the agility of a cheetah. But I have the fury of a wolverine and the ruthless characteristics found in wolves and packs of hyenas. Not to say that Fang is worse at fighting these suckers, either. He had been restrained when he had picked a fight with the EM, and I was still trying to keep that from happening.

He swung at me again with a clubbed fist, which luckily missed smashing into my entire face but it did glance off my nose, which wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I was now on defensive, tripping him up in my chains as fast as possible. He kept falling to his knees, but this wasn't a huge advantage as he was still about my height. I broke his nose anyway and scratched his face with a rough edge of the manacle that had been chaffing my wrist. He roared, wrenching the chains binding both my feet and his out of the wall, and tossing them and me to the side. My wrists, still in their restraints, popped out of their sockets and I held back a scream as he yanked on me again and tried to throw me to the opposite wall, towards the others. I narrowed my hands, making them as small as possible and begging that they would slip out of the cuffs. My wrists would break more easily than the chains.

_Dear God, Allah, Zeus, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, anyone with any mystical abilities…_

Either I was lucky or someone heard, because though it hurt like hell, my hands crunched through the restraints. Freedom! The EM, now looking more evil Jacob Black than human, nabbed me up and tossed me to the ground in one stroke, sort of like those sea birds who drop shellfish on rocks to break them open. I didn't have time to stand, but I rocked back onto my hip bone, one foot raised and one arm held up to ward off any blows if he got past my foot. Nudge called it the defensive model stance, since you were lying down, but it was designed to injure your opponent and buy you time to get back on your feet.

Each time the EM tried to grab me, my raised foot lashed out and hit him hard. If he tried to go to the side, I scooted or rolled to move with him.

"Elite Man 276!" Barked Ruth. "Restrain her!"

"Not likely." I muttered, ducking between the EM's feet, shoving the legs out from underneath all the scientists and pouncing on the chains at Fang's feet. If I could just get him out, we would have a chance at this beast… If I didn't have these chains on my feet, slowing me down, if I wasn't already on the ground… If it had been a fair fight…

Even if I had a key, I didn't have time to do anything more than graze Fang's hand before the EM grabbed me again and slammed me into a portable cage that they always brought along incase one of us got out of hand.

"Well done, 276." Roux muttered gruffly, trying not to let her pain show but limping over to my new enclosure all the same.

"Good riddance." She snapped at me, yanking part of the chain still attached to my foot. The four of them were circling me in a very predatorial way, and I prepared myself to be poked and prodded and drugged into next Tuesday.

What I did not prepare myself for was Ella's shout of "Leave her alone!" or for the EM to actually take my sister up on the offer and advance towards her.

"No!" I gasped, throwing myself against the bars of my cage in desperation, seeing his claws unsheathe… and Iggy leaped in front of her. He spread his tawny wings, nearly fifteen feet across, to completely block Ella, mom, and the three youngest from view.

"Out of the way, useless one."

"You already fought two of us." Growled Iggy. "Do you really want to make it a third?"

The EM hesitated, but it was Lamy who called the beast back. "Go get eight more cages." He ordered. "We have a punishment to dish out."

And then they exited, Iggy waiting a good ten seconds before he shuffled his wings back in place. Yes, we have broad backs. Yes, we're built like Michael Phelps. Yes, we even have creepy indentations in our backs that normal humans don't have that help keep our wings folded. Even so, it's a bit of a pain to keep them entirely closed up. Usually, they're relaxed and half unfolded, which is the most comfortable. But we were in Cirque du Freak here, and none of us were up for letting the scientists ogle at our wings even when we weren't directly being tested.

So anyway, it took him about a minute to press his wings to his back, enough time for Ella to look Iggy's way, about to say something, but after opening and closing her mouth a few times, shook her heads and fell deep into thought. Fang met my eyes, and I nodded once. I was fine. He held my gaze for a moment longer, checking if I was telling the truth, and then set his sights once again on the far wall.

That blank and hopeless expression killed me every time.

"Max?"

I glanced up at Total, now leaning forward on his front paws in a very 'play with me!' sort of way. I wondered what his deal was.

"Yeah?"

"That was totally, like, badass." He woofed. I put my head in my hands, wondering now where all his sense had gone. "You were chill when she hit you, then you pulled the American slang thing? That was brilliant."

"I should not have used some of the words I did, Total." But I was smiling anyway.

"Hypocrite." Muttered Iggy, but he was grinning, too.

"I like her accent." Angel said. "I want to move to France. After we incinerate her."

"How about we learn French first?" Said Gasman. "'Cause, like, I want to be able to communicate. Find non-alcoholic chocolates."

Even Fang twitched his lip at that comment, but the arrival of whitecoats flanked by eight EM's ruined the moment pretty quickly. There (thankfully) was no small talk, the three whitecoats waiting at the door while one of the EM's effortlessly lifted my cage and strode to the front of a quickly forming line. You see, they let everyone go. As in, out of the chains. But they tailed everyone but Total (who tailed Angel) who tailed Gazzy who was held at gunpoint.

"Follow me. We don't care about the runty male, so if any of you misbehave, we will shoot him. You have been warned." Said Lamie briskly, turning on his heel and beginning a chain that led down the corridor. Fang walked calmly at my side, his eyes flicking every which way in an attempt to map out the confusing hallways, and I tried not to flinch whenever something bruised and battered hit the bars of the cage. He wasn't the only one watching.

I admit it: I was a little worried once we stopped and I found that Lamie led us to this room with three white walls and the last being a balcony looking out into a large empty space. Would I have to watch some other winged beastie tear apart my Flock? I couldn't see what was at the bottom of the arena, maybe it was just a sandpit to properly absorb blood once one of us was struck down. Maybe they'd make me choose who to send out there… maybe they'd shove Ella and Mom off the balcony.

Maybe I needed to stop with the what-ifs and maybes otherwise I was going to give myself a heart attack.

Besides, most of these were canceled out as soon as one of the EM's yanked me out of my cage, slung me across his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, and then transferred me to a heavy metal chair that looked appropriate in an intense interrogation scene of _CSI: NY. _Unless I was a spectator, I finally realized they might actually be trying to hurt me.

As the EM tied me securely to the metal chair, a few of the others nudged the rest of my family towards the edge of the balcony. I stiffened and tried to twitch away, but Roux just laughed at me and said that he wanted to give them a good position to watch. I was really starting to hate that woman. Good thing she wasn't a redhead or I would've already ripped up her entrails and fed them to Total.

"Watch the wings." I barked at the EM, now layering the ropes with some good ol' duct tape. I wasn't going to admit it to him of course, but I didn't really think I was going anywhere. I mean, I could tell this chair was similar to the one Ari had wheeled me around the School in way back when, and that had been like, five hundred pounds of steel or something. And this time I was _tied. _Like, I'm not Wonder Woman. Contrary to popular belief.

Of course this made him yank even harder, and I tried to concentrate on something other than basically my entire back. It wasn't hard once I realized how furious Fang was I tried to communicate telepathically and ask him to calm down. He wouldn't do me or any of us any good if he got himself killed or beat up even more. He seemed to get this message, but I don't think really cared because he sent me a look that clearly read, _I want to kill them. _

"Now, Maximum Ride." Lamie interrupted our mental conversation with a rub of the glasses and a superior smirk. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Free milkshake day at McDonalds?" I grinned, trying to wiggle in my ropes. It didn't work to well, but I think Lamie got the sarcasm without the body motions.

"Don't make it worse for yourself." He advised darkly. "It really wouldn't be helpful to anyone if you died, but we also can't have you as a loose cannon. This is your punishment. You earned it."

I was going to reply something snappy and irritating that would be sure to get under his skin, but at that moment he snapped his finger to an EM who in turn lifted me and the entire chair (_the entire freaking chair!_) and tossed me over Mom, Fang, Nudge, and the others, over the guardrail, and into empty space.

There is nothing worse than free-falling towards earth without the use of your wings. Nothing. Well, being at a School-esque facility, I may come to take back that statement, but just about nothing. You feel useless, pathetic, scared silly and like you might wet your pants any moment, and at the same time my wings were screaming to snap open and catch the wind like a baseball to a glove.

But of course they couldn't, all I could do was crane my neck downward as I bit in a scream and took in the fast approaching water.

_Water? _I thought hazily, but even my fear instinct has been overridden by my instinct to make my enemies angry. This is why I used the deep breath I had taken prior to being thrown into the air to shout, "_Jeronimo_!" At the very top of my lungs.

And that was all I had time to do before I hit the water.

Let me tell you, it was glacial.

Any air I had in my lungs that hadn't been used up yelling at the scientists escaped me in a scream underwater. It was as if the very air had been yanked from my body, my blood immediately thickening as if it was icing over. My lungs were burning, even if they were burning in ice. Hastily, I gulped in oxygen through my lungs, but even that was painful as I forced myself to adjust to the temperature. I burned if I breathed, and died if I didn't…

_It's just a message. _I whispered to myself. _Just a message. _I repeated it mentally, thinking of warm beaches and the sun and showers and hot tubs and hot chocolate and cookies fresh out of the oven… but they were all cold. Gills wouldn't keep me alive long if I caught hypothermia.

And all I could do was sink.

I tried wiggling and wriggling and twisting and fidgeting and ducking my head to gnaw at the ropes but I was stuck tight.

And I have pretty exceptional night vision, except that amounted to absolutely nothing under water. What kind of hell was this? A breeding ground for sea monsters? I stopped myself from guessing and forced myself to take some deep, calming breaths. Yeah, right.

_Angel? _I called mentally, hoping I didn't sound too scared. _What's going on up there?_

_ Oh, thank God you can still think, Max. _She breathed a sigh of relief. _You must be freezing, even your thoughts are shivering. _

_ Only a little. _I muttered, still trying to brush it aside. _You okay?_

_ Everyone just about flipped until they heard the splash, then they went quiet for a moment until your mom broke an EM's collarbone-yeah, she lashed out at it with a bar of metal she snagged. Anyway, they fired some shots, got everyone under control, and herded us downstairs. Its like a huge pool, with concrete edges and even a diving board, and some techie stuff that keeps beeping. They made us sit on some benches-what was that?_

I had screamed, the gnawing fear finally getting to me as I unexpectedly hit bottom, the chair thunking and tipping slowly. I was now lying on my back. At the bottom of what felt like the freaking Arctic Ocean! And, to top it off, I had no idea how to get out.

_I just landed. I'm fine. Anything else?_

_ Yeah, the scientists are milling around, talking a little and comparing notes or something. They say if I make one of them do something abnormal the EM's will shoot me. That's their orders. Since they're part machine I can't mess with them. _ She pouted.

It was the one time I had ever felt glad that she could throw her thoughts in my mind, for they were my soul comfort as I strained at my bonds in the freezing, binding darkness.

_Don't be so negative. You think I'd abandon you?_

I laughed without humor. _I think they might make you._

She didn't say anything, but projected an image of the six of us tapping fists, something we had done every night at mom's but hadn't gotten to here. The chains kind of impaired that.

_No, _she continued. _Really. Some flesh-eating fish are on their way to chew the ropes off._

_ Flesh-eating… _what?

_They won't eat you. I promise. Just hurry up here before you catch a chill._

I didn't know what to say to that, and it was only Angel's little voice in my head that kept me from going completely loony when the fish did show up and begin to nibble. I couldn't see them unless they swam really close to my face, but I could feel the currents they caused with their swimming (there were quite a lot of them) and even hear the gnashing of their teeth. As soon as I was free, I booked out of there.

_Say thanks._

Good point. Before I pushed off the ground, I bubbled a "thanks, guys" not entirely sure if they understood English, but I wasn't into bowing and exposing my neck. As soon as the formalities were over, I kicked as fast as I could, and not a moment later, my head popped the surface of the water.

"Do you have _any _idea how God damned freaking _cold _it is down there?" I snapped at the scientists as soon as my eyes had adjusted to the seemingly blinding light. I was pretty sure they were aware of the temperature down to the exact, but I noticed my loud mouth tendencies seemed to bother them and couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"Mmh." Lamie muttered, not really paying attention. "And Miss Roux, yes, the equivalency of the quadratic singular zygote… yes. I understand now."

He continued with them, and I swam over to the ledge, peering at my family. The EM's trailed me with their eyes, but kept their guns trained on their charges, not paying me too much mind. Mom's eyes were red and teary. Ella, too, looked on the verge of either screaming someone out or sobbing. I wasn't sure if she could speak.

"Gills working okay, then?" Iggy rolled his eyes in my direction.

"Oh, yeah." I nodded. "And this new scale growth on my hands is really fascinating…" I pretended to examine the back of my hand, catching not only the scientists' attention but probably giving the flock a little extra freak out that they didn't need.

"Kidding!" I muttered, flashing them my hands. "God knows _that _would be creepy."

"Uh, yeah, Max." Nudge nodded. "And imagine if you grew fins, too? Like, how sketchy would that be? And I bet scales would be harder to hide than wings. We'd have to get you one of those things some women wear in parts of the world, that cover their whole bodies, you know? Not that I'm suggesting some women have scales, but if you were concerned with hiding your skin in a discreet way, you know? No one would ever guess you had scales."

"I bet she would rather just not have them." Gazzy said reasonably. I grinned at him.

"Yeah, knock on wood. Who knows where the gill thing even comes from?" I said, giving Fang a quick look to see if anyone else knew about his development on the gill front. He shifted his head slightly to the side, to anyone else a change of scenery for a bored kid. For me a no. And I wasn't sure if they knew about Angel's… we'll call them skills, but for now I hoped the scientists kept their attention on me.

"I can answer that." Said Roux gruffly, coming over as the other two finished up notes. "Or at least offer a hypothesis. Humans are able to hiccup because of a trait passed down from our very ancient aquatic ancestors. I believe your avian DNA causes whatever is left over from these ancestors to change in ways we hadn't predicated."

"Meaning you _still _have no idea what the hell you're doing." I muttered.

He narrowed his eyes at me, coming to the edge of the pool, but far enough away so that the EM's could defend him if I suddenly grabbed his ankles and towed him in. Just an idea.

"Do you know what a Taser is, Ride?"

"Well it rhymes with laser." Offered Angel.

Gazzy nodded. "Which is what Buzz Lightyear uses."

"_To infinity,_" Iggy began, and Ella joined in. I knew enough Disney to know Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase. And it was even from _Toy Story. _And Ella said I hadn't watched enough movies. "_And beyond!_"

"Like an electric gun." I answered in your typical irritating teenager tone. "Instead of shooting bullets, you shoot shocks, right?"

"And are you aware that water conducts electricity?"

I grinned. "Now I am!"

Apparently there was a point behind his questioning (uh, duh) because he just happened to whip one out and stick it in the water. I'm not a scientist. I don't know why it didn't shock him, how it worked, why it shocked me, or if it would hurt that much out of water. But I am a life form, and it hurt my little life form nerves like hell. So, EM or not, after I had regained proper breathing technique and cleared the water from my lungs, I lunged forward and pulled him into the water with me.

Although all six of us had been raised to deal with crap like being pulled into a pool, Mr. Roux clearly hadn't been, because he began to panic and press the trigger on his gun. This didn't go over too well for either of us, until he went limp and I managed to toss the thing out of the water. An EM fished the limp scientist out, making sure his heart was still beating (it was, unfortunately) and then proceeded to Taser me again. This one had the smarts to dodge before I pulled him into.

The whole affair, with shouting scientists and angry flock members, sort of set the tone for the entire day.

**I hope you enjoy, and remember, just yell fire dot org. If you don't want to (DO IT ANYWAY!), read this:**

-Be aware when alone.

Don't park in far corners of parking lots when its dark.

Don't go to secluded ATM's.

If you run/exercise and listen to iPod's-NOT TOO LOUD and PAY ATTENTION TO SURROUNDINGS.

Be aware if reading in public. Don't let anyone surprise you.

-When strangers come up with innocent questions like, "What time is it?" Give yourself a good five feet personal space. Say, "Stay back, I can tell you the time from here!"

-Try and make sure people know where you are.

-Don't open the doors to strangers.

-If you think you are being followed, head to a public area-NOT HOME

**IF YOU ARE JUMPED: **Don't yell RAPE or HELP or GET AWAY or anything. _**YELL**_ _**FIRE**_ because other people will come. Fires concern them. If you yell rape, kidnapper, help, people may be too callous to help. They don't want to get involved.

Capiche, everyone? Sorry if this was really heavy/freaked anyone out. But you need to know. If you need the motive, pretend you're Max beating up Erasers.

I hope you liked the chapter, but I hope even more that you watch that video, that you learn to defend yourself, that you tell others and help them learn, because we don't all have a flock to come help us. We don't all have wings to fly away or super DNA to punch a man's ribs in.

My sister is petite and 5 feet tall. A six-foot body builder could lift her up in a minute. Think about that.

**Love is a verb, everyone! Love is a verb.**


	52. Warning and a Discovery

**Chapter Fifty-two:**

** Okay, everyone, two major plusses: I'm updating way faster than usual, and this chapter is 17 pages long on my word program! Enjoy! Oh, and heed Fang's blog.**

So, eventually (meaning, once they had Tasered me and finally Fang and then Gazzy enough to get us to cooperate), we struck up a deal. Miss Emilie Roux had spent some jolly time tossing little kiddie torpedoes into the water. I eyed her, wondering if she had some strange love for brightly colored rubber toys. When she had done her best to spread them all out, they had explained that each one that I found would earn a sandwich, which I could then either eat or "divide among the other experiments once we have finished testing you." Roux had thrown twenty. They gave me until I found each one or passed out to return them to the surface. Charming.

I wrinkled my nose, turning from the edge of the pool to tread water and get a quick grip on my bearings. It was pretty wide and long, a little less than Olympic sized swimming pools, I'd guess, but much deeper, much darker, and not as clean. It wasn't even chlorinated, but when I noticed the wave maker and other gadgets at one end of the pool and registered the salty taste on my tongue, I realized it must be like a miniature ocean.

_It's about two-hundred feet deep, Max._

_ And about two-hundred below zero. _I grumped silently, not looking to ducking my head under again. Angel snorted.

Well, this just keeps getting better and better. But I was hungry, I had no doubt that everyone else was hungry, the scientists were bothering me, and I couldn't do anything to them without inflicting extra punishment on anyone else.

I took a deep breath. _You'll keep the flesh eaters away?_

I turned around again, taking a good look at everyone before going down. If anybody had so much as _one _ more scratch, I would flay the EM. Angel just smiled at me and nodded, laying her head on mom's shoulder, which I took as a good sign. Iggy and Gazzy had already started playing those games we play when we're on a long flight, like choose a category and you go through the alphabet. They were on hydrogen peroxide. They were fine. Ella, who sat behind Nudge, was finger combing through her hair, though both of their eyes were on me. I winked. And Fang… he was silent, as per usual, and watching me from his seat. His head inclined, and my lip twitched into the only type of smile I could manage at the moment.

_You'll see him again_. I told myself, taking in his eyes and expression. _You'll see them all._

I took a deep breath and dived down, down, down.

Fun facts? The air temperature (which I hadn't noticed, because I was already so cold) was thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, which for those of you who go by Celcius, is the temperature at which water freezes. The water temperature was one degree colder. These whitecoats are always trying to educate us! No wonder the others were shivering. They told the my family that, aside from icebergs, they were recreating the infamous _Titanic _scenario where most of the passengers who died perished from hypothermia rather than drowning. Angel relayed this to me, the others were in the midst of a history lesson while I swam down the side of the pool, my eyes slowly adjusting to take in rocks, weeds, and finally blackness.

Not useful. I swam up until I could see, almost wishing there was a Chu-like ship that radiated glow from windows so I could see what was in front of me. Within the first five minutes I found a teal and red torpedo resting on top of a rock protruding from the wall. I debated tossing it up from where I was, but doubted that even I had enough strength to toss it up through the water and be sure it landed on the side. I pushed to the surface, spared a quick glare for the lecturing scientists, and pushed the torpedo toward mom's feet.

"Oh, Maximum!" Ruth turned to me, grinning in a feral sort of way that made me wonder how many girls my age he had taken advantage of. He was certainly feeling better from his own little swim. "How's the water?"

I took a big mouthful and spat it at him, then ducked back underwater to avoid having to listen to his yells. I couldn't avoid the electricity that burned through my veins, though, once he got his hands on the Taser again and touched it to the water. I refused to surface, even though for a moment I forgot how to breathe and inhaled a ton of water, and continued deeper. My strategy was to check the rocks on the sides and corners of the pool where they could get caught, and I'd gather as many as I could carry before returning them to the scientists.

I freaked out a fish, and in the process, freaked myself out, when I surprised it while grabbing my fourth torpedo. Thanks to my bird vision, the bright colors were getting easier and easier to see, but the dull fish kept popping out and scaring the kanoles out of me. I was about to go in for a fifth torpedo before resurfacing, but right as I caught sight of it, I heard Angel's urgent call in my head.

I dropped the fifth, paying no mind to it and tucking the other four firmly under my arms, bolted to the surface.

"What is it?" I gasped, tossing aside the gathered torpedoes. Everyone, scientists included, had their heads craned upwards toward a balcony high above. Probably the same one the EM had chucked me over. The arena now echoed with the shouts taking place up above.

"I told you, I don't know what I'm doing here!" That was one voice, shrill with fear but also sounding extremely pissed off. It was either an angry Justin Bieber or a girl.

"You bet you do, girlie." Growled the next voice, sounding like a half-morphed EM. There was a bark, and I could now see the girl standing on the edge of the platform. She looked down at the water, and human eyes couldn't see her face, but I certainly could. The EM probably saw fear and anger, etched on her face like kids writing on a chalkboard. But I saw freckles, slightly sunburned skin, vulnerable blue eyes that fought between screaming in terror at what was obviously something she had never seen before and anger at the indignity of her kidnapping and treatment. The anger was winning, she wasn't going down without a fight.

I had no idea who this girl was. Why she was up there. But I did know that she was human, had no idea what the hell was going on, and that she had enough fight in her to make sure her voice didn't just disappear. She probably thought this was an Amber Alert situation or something, normal kidnapping. Ha. If only.

Anyway, I suddenly found myself rooting for this girl, dressed in the School's issued white pants and shirt. For her tangled hair, the fierce gleam in her eye, the blood smeared across her cheek. Only the EM with his whispered warning and the gun pressed against Gaz's back kept me from jumping out of the water to find out what was up.

"Get the hell away from me, you sick bastard." She snapped at him. "You think you scare me? You think your pit of water scares me? Water. Terrifying. If you were telling the truth when you said you've been creeping on me this past year, you will find that I _adore _the water."

"Really?" The voice, laughing, became a figure that reached out to prod her in the chest, as if about to make her fall, but she shot a hand out in a somewhat out of practice eye jab. He dodged, but did back up, which made her seem somewhat more comfortable. I realized I was holding my breath and inhaled quickly, trying to get a good visual on the girl's EM. "Do you adore cold water?"

"I'm from New England, Einstein. I don't really have a choice."

"Lucky." Ella muttered. "I've always wanted to learn to ski."

"From Maine or not, you tell me what I want to know _now _or you will be taking an unexpected swim."

Needless to say, the Eraser wasn't pleased when the girl displayed her rather large vocabulary in a way respectable company would have cringed at.

"Max!" Angel gasped as the beast pushed her off the ledge, now free falling and splashing into the water moments later, but I was already on it. Humans don't deal well with shock, and I figured the kidnapping, push, fall, and impact would be enough to make this girl go bonkers and start drowning or do something else utterly unhelpful. I kicked forward, following the trail of bubbles, and was somewhat relieved to find her at least attempting to kick. Her eyes were open, but she seemed dazed. I grabbed hold of her arms and tried to steer her in the right direction. She seemed to get the gesture because her kicks became more uniform and it wasn't completely impossible to lug her deadweight to the surface.

We bobbed up, and I ignored whatever the whitecoats were babbling about and guided her toward the edge of the pool. She grabbed the edge, coughing and spluttering up the salty water. I backed away, just in case, but I didn't think she was much of a threat, judging by her display above and how she looked to be about Ella's age. But it could be just that: a display, and I avoided her. I glanced quickly toward my family. Mom had moved forward, as if to help her, but an EM had stepped in front of her and gestured her back. She looked ready to murder someone. But Fang caught my eye and warned me of what I already knew. _Be careful. _Duh. His eyes flickered, as if catching my thought, and flipped me the bird. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the girl, now watching me through sodden brown hair and holding her own in the water.

"Thanks, Max." She said, as if I had simply picked up her books when she dropped them in the hall at school or something. I must have looked shocked because she apologized quickly. "Sorry, for freaking you out. Or whatever. Identifying you. Or if you're not even Max and it turns out I am actually crazy. But I think if I am asleep, this water would certainly be enough to wake me up, so I'm pretty sure this is real. And, well, I'm guessing you're Max because crazy nut Eraser things kidnapped me when I was out running and then I'm drugged, shoved in a van, end up somewhere really hot, brought inside a white building, and then you bare remarkable resemblance to Max and the kind of crappy situations the flock is prone to getting stuck in. So if you're not Max, say something so I don't keep rambling like a complete imbecile."

Imbecile. I wondered if this was an SAT word of something. Emilie Roux had used it, too. Not that I didn't know what it meant, but I noticed this, and again wondered if this was a test.

"Um…" I began oh-so intelligently, swimming backwards a little. "How do you…?"

She shrugged. "I read your books. And I did read Fang's blog until I got tired of the Fangirls and their crappy writing skills. I mean, education is required for a reason, you know? You'd think these kids would be able to incorporate it into their daily lives."

"Sure."

She shrugged again, paddling out into the center of the pool to get a good look around. Her eyes strayed onto the flock and my mom and sister, but she seemed to nod to herself and examined the scientists and EM's closer. I was pleased to see an expression of extreme disgust cross her face, but still completely confused as to why she was here. I pulled myself along the edge of the pool, closer to the others.

"Vaireedah." I whispered to them, asking if they knew what was going on. As required, so no one could figure out by gesture the meaning of 'no', they all murmured, "Red."

Okay. I turned again to look at the girl, who was swimming back to edge of the pool, her teeth chattering, and I noticed in concern, her lips and freckled skin already a shade of blue. Her eyes, now matching her skin tone, looked up.

"Okay. Sorry if this is a stupid question." She muttered, talking like what I assumed she talked like, but her voice was off. Maybe it was the chattering teeth. Or the cold. I nodded once, waiting for her to continue. Seeing if she was made of tougher stuff than she looked. I was still trying to decide if I should help this kid-who had a gun constantly aimed at her by an EM-or if I should avoid her at all costs. Talk could help make that decision.

"Are demigods real, too?"

"Demigods…" I trailed off. "Like Hercules?"

She nodded, but didn't seem too hopeful. "Perseus? Achilles?"

These names rung a bell, but it was Ella who responded in my silence.

"'Hey!'" She imitated a gruff voice. "'Ain't that the goat boy that trained Achilles?'"

This, though baffling not only the Flock and I, but our mother as well, managed to prompt the girl into a shaky laugh.

"'Yeah, it is!'" She continued Ella's quote. "'Hey, nice job on those heels, you missed a spot!'"

I trusted Ella and I trusted my mom, to an extent. Beyond that, I trust my Flock, and above and beyond, I trust Fang. But if Ella and this odd girl were exchanging quotes the same way Ella and Celine did, that did win her a point in the right direction.

"It's from _Hercules._" Ella scoffed, dismissing us as all as hopeless cases. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry I wasn't raised on the magic of Disney." I retorted. She just winked at me, then looked at the girl.

"You like Disney?"

She nodded. "I used to be a sucker for the animals ones when I was younger. _101 Dalmations_ was my favorite. I still like it, of course, but I think either _The Hunchback of Notre Dame _or _Fox and the Hound_ is my favorite now. If you can choose a favorite Disney film."

I decided, even if I was unsure of this girl, that I did like her smile. She didn't seem like a test. Which didn't mean anything. I rubbed my temples and dipped back underwater, trying to get my brain functioning properly.

"Okay." I muttered, shaking my head and turning back to the girl. "Your point? Achilles? Perseus?"

She waved it off with one hand. "I just wondered-kind of stupid, really-but if any other books I've read are real."

"You asked for one specifically." I rattled off, turning to the age-old interrogation tactics I had learned through many confrontations with Ig and the Gasman. "Something made you mention the demi-whatsit books alongside the others. Why?"

Her face crunched in a little, like she was trying to decide whether to be irritated at my questioning or just answer, like all the adults in her life had undoubtedly brain washed her to do.

"Because they're both books I like." She said slowly, calculating. Two could play at this game.

"Oh? So you like the books?"

She grinned. "I _knew _you were Max."

"I _knew _the books are the best thing in stock." I imitated her.

She snorted. Iggy laughed.

"_One _of my favorites." She clarified. "Now why don't you deflate that ego a little?"

I just laughed, another point. She wasn't afraid to talk back to people who bothered her. "Okay. Other favorite books? So I know who I'm up against?"'

"J.K. Rowling. Rick Riordan. J.R.R. Tolkein."

I waited. She sighed. "_Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Lord of the Rings _and company. Pray tell you've heard of those, at least?"

"People made books after _Lord of the Rings_?" I gasped. "But that would totally ruin them! I love the movies, actually. Aragorn is my favorite-"

"Hold up." The girl interrupted. "The movies are based off of the books, which may or may not be based off of World War II. Evil leader and minions are Sauron and Saruman and company, they equal Hitler, Himmler, Stalin, all the murderers. Then there are the oppressed groups-"

"There are books?"

"I thought we had established that." The girl sighed, making me slightly irritated. "They're pretty fantastic. Legolas even screams in _The Fellowship of the Ring. _He yells, "Balrog!" Since apparently Elves are terrified of Balrogs. Like, beyond anybody else. Frankly, I would think a Balrog would terrify anyone, but maybe that's just me."

"What's a Balrog?" Gazzy asked, looking slightly amused at our exchange.

"A demonic beast." She nodded to him. "In the movie it had a really badass whip."

"I tried to make a whip with an electrical shock on the end, once." He said, matter-of-factly. I groaned. "Max said it was dangerous and cruel and probably against the Constitution. Whatever that is."

It was around this time when another whitecoat that I hadn't met yet (I introduced myself, involving a lot of vocalization, some splashing, and a Thanksgiving turkey, but that's another story) came over and began demanding her about. She didn't take to it, until he Tasered her, and she didn't react quite as well, as, ahem, myself. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but humans obviously aren't built for very tough stuff. I wondered, if push came to shove, if I would put my own satisfaction at annoying the whitecoats over the fact that she would be Tasered by default if I was, through the water. But anyway, they told her to leave me alone, and I waved her along. She started swimming a frog-like stroke making from one end of the pool to the other, and I turned back to my Flock.

"So," I began. "Huh?"

"_He_!" Emilie turned to me, snapping something in her own language that sounded like someone might say, "Hey, you! Get offa my cloud!" as if sensing when I was doing something she disapproved of. I.e. acting like a normal human being. "'ze clock is ticking, girl."

"You just called me 'girl!'" I spun in the water to look at her, clapping my hands. "Congratulations on your inner self admitting that I'm human! Bravo, bravo! Encore, encore!"

"Isn't _encore _originally French?" Asked Nudge, chewing on a fingernail. "Hey, maybe _bravo, _too. What do they mean, Roux? I've always wanted to learn French. Well, not always, but I think if I ever have time to learn something other than English, I would choose French, because I want to go back to France, and did you know its known as a Romance language? I just think it's so beautiful, when someone isn't cursing you out, you know?"

Ooh, Emilie had a really good "Shut the hell up" glare. I've been trying to perfect my own. I spat at her. She Tasered me. And the girl. I felt slightly sorry. And spat again.

"Miss. Roux!" Lamy turned, practically growling. "Mr. Whitevern is conducting a delicate experiment. I promised we would not upset his if he allowed us the use of the pool, so control yourself!"

Yes, because the gods forbid anything get in the way of more ways to torture me. Though I admit the pool was a new one. They were getting creative! Who knew, maybe they had some artist interns or something? I stuck my tongue out at the pair of them and dived back under, and I wasn't even electrocuted.

"Ella?" Mei called loudly, her voice echoing around the enclosed porch. She knocked again, louder, rapping her knuckles against the glass pane for ultimate effect.

"Doctor M?" Belle joined in, peering through a side window. "Doctor Martinez?"

The screen door slammed shut. That would be Celine. "The car is still in the garage." Her voice lacked its usually bubble. She sounded even more serious then she did during the annual boys v. girls soccer match, when her competitive streak rose so high that anyone who messed with her was just asking for a nice bruise.

The three girls paused, looking at each other. Mei, shorter even than Belle, was tugging at her neon bracelets in anxiety, a habit only her friends and family picked up on. Otherwise the Chinese girl looked the picture of calm, despite the situation. Belle was licking her lips, her tongue just peeking out. A slightly more amusing show of worry that her friends teased her endlessly about after they had calmed her fears. She hadn't spoken much before their arrival, and was quiet even now. Celine, tall, sporty, endlessly energized Celine had began to pace.

"Okay." She began, already organizing in her head. Although on first appearance she seemed the scatterbrained one, it was really Ella who needed the other three to keep her on track. Celine had no trouble, had already memorized the periodic table of elements, and planned on becoming either a brain surgeon or forensic scientist. The gears in her mind were already whirring. "What do we know?"

"Belle was the last person we know of outside of the family to speak with her." Mei began, now pulling at the straps on her caution tape yellow backpack. "She called at about eleven last Friday, after Ella returned from that party she went to with her mom and cousins, and asked about the homework for AL. The call lasted about five minutes, and then Ella supposedly went to bed."

"Saturday is blank on the Where-is-Ella-o-Meter," Belle cut in. "But I checked in at Stonybrook, and Dr. M checked in. She met with three dogs, two cats, and one rabbit with a stomach ache."

"Sunday is blank for both of them." Nodded Celine. "Not unusual. Dr. M doesn't work Sundays, they might have done something with the family. Monday, Ella doesn't show up to school. Tuesday, she is absent and doesn't pick up the phone. Wednesday, absent again, doesn't pick up or answer emails, Instant Messages, or other forms of communication. Thursday-yesterday-the same thing. I checked Stonybrook, Dr. M hasn't shown up since she placed a call in "early Sunday morning." The attendant wouldn't tell me exact times. Meaning the pair-"

"Plus the cousins." Added Mei. Celine nodded.

"Saying the call was placed at six, which was probably later than it was in reality, but I don't want to overestimate, they have all been away without leave for five days and eleven hours. Now, possible reasons?"

"Drove cousins to airport," Belle whispered half-heartedly. "But ruled out by car in the driveway. Unless they went with the cousins to NH and caught a plane. Maybe they were driven to the airport by a friend. But that brings us to why Ella didn't tell us if this _is _what happened. Or answer her cell phone."

"Road trip with the cousins' parents?" Offered Mei, not sounding as if she really meant what she said. "Maybe they met here and went somewhere."

"But, again," Celine exhaled irritably. "Dr. M didn't inform her office, or the school, about their extended absence, as if she would even let Ella leave now. Exams are coming up, and she's strict about playing hooky even in the beginning of the year."

The other two girls nodded, this having already occurred to them, but by now they knew that Celine not only rattled everything off aloud for everyone else, but for herself, as well. It helped her stay organized, and nothing the trio felt then felt organized.

They had decided enough was enough that day at school, and had all met up at Celine's house, which was closest, after making necessary investigations. Ella could be a little disorganized, but she informed them whenever she was leaving for a long time, and they had been asked by teachers at school if they knew where Ella had gone, giving them reason to believe no one had called the school to excuse their friend. They had biked to Dr. M's veterinary practice, Stonybrook, and gotten what they could out of the normally friendly but slightly suspicious receptionist, and finally over to the Martinez's, to the "scene of the crime", as Mei had joked.

It didn't seem like much of a joke now.

The car was in the garage, Magnolia had been MIA as well until she heard voices and they heard quiet _wruff_ing from the backyard, where they had found her submerged in a small creek-now barely considered running water, in this heat-trying to keep cool and hydrated. They gave her what they could of their water bottles and fed her their energy bars, and deemed the situation highly suspicious. Of course, no adults had been involved. Celine's parents would have popped a lid, if they had even appeared to Belle's, they would have been roped into babysitting, and Mei's were quiet folk who lived on the opposite side of town. Mei didn't expect them to be much help, aside trying to shelter their daughter and make an inquiry with the police if the Martinez's didn't show up in another week.

"Okay." Mei threw her notebook down to the ground, kicked the chair she had stood on to get a better view of the house out of the way, pulled out one of her hairpins, and immediately commenced to picking the lock. The two other girls seemed torn between wondering if this was okay and something like curiosity until they decided that this was the only way. As eerie as the situation was, they couldn't not know anymore, and if the house held anything, they would figure it out.

All the same, when the lock clicked and Belle hesitantly pushed the door open, they all paused for a moment. The house was strangely quiet. No music. No humming fan. No movement. As one, Belle and Celine shot arms out to grab Mei before she could storm in and yell. They shot her a look, and pushed their rash friend behind them before stepping inside.

"Stay together." Celine whispered. "Divide and conquer was always a stupid rule, what if someone died and the conquering didn't quite work?"

This didn't help their nerves.

The living room was empty and seemingly untouched, the cushions on the couch, pictures in their frames, television off, and the blankets slightly rumpled, but nothing suspicious. Someone could easily have sat on them.

The hall looked to be in place, rain jackets, sunscreen and bugspray, but Mei gestured to the nearly bare hat rack.

"Practically all their baseball caps are gone. You know how they have, like, fifteen? I know because they had one for each color of the rainbow plus some. They could have gone on a walk in the desert."

The other two nodded. Belle took a picture of the rack, and they moved into the kitchen. Fridge looked practically empty, but intact, and their was a cup of what must have once been hot coffee waiting on the table for someone to pick it up. It was half full. Belle took more pictures. Celine took Mei's hand.

"I should have taken a picture of the lock before you busted it." Belle muttered to the pair, eyes darting around the empty kitchen as if waiting for a ghost. "Circumstantial evidence, and all."

The house was just as each of them had seen it a million times, albeit much, much quieter. Less food (they figured seven kids ate a lot), dog hair on the carpets, practically empty shampoo bottles. The guest room looked used, with an inflatable mattress and rumpled bed sheets, Ella's room housed two more sleeping bags, and they noted the two others rolled up downstairs.

"Like, night beds." Mei reminded them. "The Japanese have beds that fold up during the day for maximum space."

When they had cleared the house, they all lingered a little long in Ella's bedroom, but then Belle announced she wanted to check the guestroom again, Mei headed downstairs, and Celine opened Ella's computer, checking the history and recently opened files.

Celine logged on, opened Ella's Word program and internet, and began to scroll down.

_Recently visited sites:_

_ Mesa High School Homepage_, for homework. Celine skipped that one.

_Naturopack_

_ Google search-styrofoam_

_ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Homepage_

_ Feministing Blog-Because Who Needs to be 'Taken?'_

_ Just Yell Fire! Practical Self-Denfense for Girls_

_ Fang's Blog_

_ The _Maximum Ride _Number One Fansite_

_ Google Search-Maximum Ride_

_ Potterwatch_

_ Youtube-Yiruma-Love Me_

Celine scanned this over quickly, but it took a moment for even her quickie brain to process what she had seen. She read it over again, just to be sure. Three links to _Maximum Ride _related searches. And Ella claimed she had never read them, despite the major coincidence that she and Dr. M shared the names of characters in Celine and Belle's favorite (and Mei's second favorite) book series. The only book series she had flat-out refused to read, claiming they were too creepy. Celine was skeptical, Ella was Tim Burton's #1 Fan, but dropped it when it was clear her oldest friend wasn't acting like usual.

She clicked the Google search, then the purple link that matched the next site's description, and from there, she clicked the link in the sidebar of the website that directed _"All you fans to the only fansite that tops our, the real one!"_

Celine had already read the most recent post, dating back to a little more than a week ago, but she scrolled through it again, anyway.

**Fang's Blog**

** Feeling like saving the world? Welcome to the blog.**

** So, I've never really had a vacation, per se, because although we winged ones have done some pretty awesome stuff (went to Anarctica, swam in thermal pools, **_**flown**_**, been to the zoo and Disney World, not to mention all the amazing sights and places we've been to) we've always had to leave in a few days, no matter how much of a blast we were all having.**

** No, Max doesn't like upping the kids from one place to another, but survival doesn't always care about what you like and don't like. We have a mission, as you know. Save the world, stop the huge corporate companies who bash everyone else and the planet, save endangered species, run away from the bad guys, that kind of thing. You guys are pretty up-to-date. But the point of all this rambling is that, for a while now, we have sort of been getting a vacation. A working vacation, like the one in Antarctica, but a vacation all the same. We're relatively safe, fed, happy, and trying to figure out the world's greatest riddle. This little break has included but has not been limited to: water balloon fights, ice cream, tag, hide and go seek, **_**Food Network Challenge: Bird Kids and Co. Take Over!**_**, and lots of movie watching. Can't say much more than that, just in case. (By the way, Nudge has coined the new phrase JIC=Just In Case. Start incorporating that into your digital lives.)**

** Not that this doesn't mean we're not still working on kicking the Bad Guys' butts, for any Bad Guys reading this.**

** So, anyway, I thought that without any major topics of discussion beside the obvious (um, read the banner underneath the words "Fang's Blog" incase you're confused on this point), I would give some pointers toward STW (Saving the World) and answer some comments:**

** From **_totallychica_**:**

_hey fang. how r total and akila doing these days? u haven't mentioned him since his post._

**Hey, totallychica. The dogs are doing just fine, though Akila's found a more permanent home for while we crazy nuts are off flying (um, has anyone ever tried lifting a malamute **_**without**_** trying to get airborne? Nightmare.) So this results in some moping while away, and lots of barking and excitement when they're reunited. They're both healthy and relatively happy and are planning a wedding for sometime later this summer. **

** -Fang**

** From **_lotusINTHEmud_**:**

_What's your opinion on vandalism in the name of saving the world? Like, popping tires in all the SUVs at the car store or something._

**Well, lotus, you've brought up a really controversial topic. This meaning, everybody seems to have something to say about it and it often involves a lot of arguing and/or bloodshed. Personally, I think that slashing tires will just get the SUV owners/dealers angry and even less likely to listen to us eco-activists and that if you get caught, you're no use to us in jail unless you're also a tattoo artist and start tattooing "green" messages or otherwise awesome on people. But again, lots of opinions.**

** -Fang**

** From **_anonymous_**:**

_Dude, you used to be really cool with your wings and fighting and crap but WTF is up with all the enviro stuff? I get enough lectures at school. Fighting evil=good, going along with all the BS supposed "environmentalists" are pulling to get attention=bad. _

**Well, anonymous reviewer and anyone who agrees, we can all agree to disagree. On opinions. But I can also repeat myself and tell you the facts pointing to a global crisis that isn't stopping anytime soon. I'd start listening to that BS those environmentalists are pulling.**

** -Fang**

** From **_02Hero_**:**

_u have a lot of great stuff on here but i was wondering what we could do in our daily lives to help because a lot of it seems really big. do u have small tips that we can do all the time?_

**Well, 02Hero, keep reading this post for some answers. Other than that? Research. Put a part of each day away to learning about the environment and/or what's happening to it. Make sure your family turns off the lights. Water gardens in the evening, when the sun doesn't make the water evaporate. Some sites to go to? **Green as a thistle dot com and do something dot org.** Thanks for caring, Hero.**

** -Fang**

** Okay, now this was actually Iggy's idea. I claim no credit. **

**10 Easy (I wouldn't know, I don't usually do the stuff you guys do) Ways to Go Green**

**1. Get a Nalgene bottle or a metal water bottle and use it **_(one environmentally sound) and fill that with water instead of wasting water cleaning a lot of cups that you use throughout the day (ex. Cup with OJ for breakfast, milk carton at school for snack, milk carton/plastic water bottle for lunch, another cup when you get home, even more plastic or use if you play sports. That's 5+ things that will be washed/thrown out or occasionally (gasp) recycled. If you have one bottle used throughout the day, problemo almost eliminated._

**2. Restrict meat consumption to 2 or fewer times a week**_, yes, you heard me. That means (if you care) less turkey sandwiches, bacon, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas ham… not. Well, maybe less turkey and bacon, but try a good ol' PB&J for lunch instead, or egg salad, or veggie wraps, or grilled cheese. The meat industry accounts for:_

_ -increased carbon dioxide (CO__2__) released into the atmosphere due to methane from the animals, their fecal matter, and bodily odors, not to mention the transportation of the animals. _

_ -less trees=less oxygen=um, speaks for itself? But anyway, farmland for cattle is cleared, very often in South and Central America, from rainforests that are cut down. Not only is this a tragedy in itself, but the rainforest fertilizes its own soil, so after about three years of farming, the dirt is as dry and nutrition-less as the dust on the bottom of my shoes. For those of you not agriculturally oriented, that isn't very sustainable and is a total waste, hmm?_

_ Not to mention all the topsoil that just gets washed away into rivers, streams, and bodies of water, killing plant and animal life in their. The world is a chain, everything is connected, and if we mess up one thing, something else will pay the price. Think about cute little lemurs and amazing leopards dying next time you sink your teeth into a McBurger._

**3. Use cloth napkins **_sure, you'd think the washing of these would be a waste, but its better than the trees cut down every time you spill BBQ sauce. Plus, you can get cloth napkins wet without them shredding up on you, so its easier to wipe the stain away. Don't want to buy some? Take some old pants/sheets/curtains/pillowcases and cut them into squares. It's not that hard!_

**4. No electronic exercising **_okay, this is coming from a kid with wings who has never had to put in mind about burning off those extra calories (probably because the Flock is more often concerned with getting enough calories rather than extra), but really, turn off the treadmill and take a jog around the neighborhood. Run with a friend. Bring an iPod. Just don't get sniped by some creeper in a white van. But really-people were meant to exercise outside. Walk when you can. Use the stairs sans elevator, our feet were built to walk and run, not press a pedal!_

**5. When you wash laundry, use cold water or, if your washing machine has it, an "Eco-Cycle" or something similarly named **_and better yet? Hang dry clothing. It actually prolongs life of jeans (says Max's mom) and undergarments (also from Max's mom)._

**6. If you must, use a fan rather than air conditioning **_and if you're really not _that hot, _don't use either! Stay downstairs, in the shade, etcetera. And if you live in the Caribbean during the summer, good luck. Drink water._

**7. Weed by hand, not pesticides **_guys, c'mon. What has the world come to? Weeding's like, character building. Natural. And if you're really spraying pesticides near edible food, I would be wary of eating it. Just saying._

**8. Turn the computer off when not in use **_did you know, in one year, a computer can release upwards of one ton of carbon dioxide? Turn it off when you leave the house, are done using it, etcetera._

**9. Unplug and turn off the lights **_when you're away for extended periods of time or leaving a room. Are your parents divorced? Unplug the light in your room when you head to your other parent's house for a few days. Unplug before going to school. Unplug before going on a sleepover. Your vain siblings might care, and your half-blind dad might complain when you turn off the lights when you leave a room (as long as you're not leaving all of them in like, pitch darkness or something while they're trying to do homework). Capiche?_

**10. Watch consuming **_and not just eating. Consumerism is taking over America, and destroying it in the process, what with shipping, packaging, all that good stuff. There are some pretty cool thrift stores hanging around for clothes. (This post courtesy of Nudge, who's thinking of starting a "Green Fashion Blog" because do I really strike you as the kind of person who would blog about clothing?) Have gift swaps with your friends, wrap presents in either fabric, newspaper, or best yet, old comics, and buy when you have to, but think, do I really need this?_

**Think about it. Thanks for checking in.**

** -Fang.**

Celine smiled. She had checked out both sites Fang had suggested, the Green as a Thistle one about one woman's journey as she did one new green thing each day for a year, and kept up all the past ones, in the end amounting to 366 (it was a leap year) greener lifestyles ranging from selling her car to brushing her cat more often and sleeping. DoSomething was awesome-just answer the four questions What Cause? Who With? Where? How Long? And the site would ping up a ton of different things that match your query-she and Mei had come up with the idea for a 3K run to raise awareness about climate change, and by default, Belle and Ella had joined in.

Ella.

Where the _hell _was that girl?

She had been trying to deny it. They had all been living on the hope that it really was just a road trip Ella and Dr. M had been magicked off on, but Celine knew, not from her brain, but from her heart, that her best friend really was gone. The sheets were untouched. The house was cold. The car was in place. Magnolia had been left behind. No one, not the school or the office, had been notified of an extended absence. Something was up.

"Guys?"

Celine jumped, pushing the chair over in her haste to see what had made Belle call out. She snapped the laptop shut and bolted out into the hall, looking down into the living room, Mei now at her side.

Belle, her tanned face puckered in confusion, was holding up an old VHS tape, the kind classic Disney films were recorded on, and cheesy Mary-Kate and Ashley adventures from the '90s. There was a whole box next to her, almost full, and further inspection led them to find the rest pushed under the TV, as if they had been ejected from the player and left behind.

"What about them?" Mei frowned. "Its really not the time to be looking at Ella's first steps or her first birthday or other firsts that parents have the need to record. Something weird is going on."

The other two gave her an obvious "duh" expression.

"Uh, they're not Ella's." Belle continued, then cleared her throat. "I found a note. It just says, 'To Max, good luck.'"

"Max was her tall cousin's name," Celine nodded. "Remember? Maybe they're, like, videos of her dad's track career. She was so good, I bet she could go for the Olympics someday."

Belle wasn't impressed, and both the other girls grew slightly frustrated that their friend was being so hesitant. "That's not all." She murmured. "I, well, I found another note. It was shoved back with the used videos. And, uh, I found a certain video. I think we should check it out."

The other two trailed downstairs, flopping down on the familiar couch while Belle navigated the old VCR system. None of them knew exactly what to expect, but it certainly wasn't the grainy film featuring two small girls, wings protruding from their back, giggling with a sign reading, _"We are the Flock!"_

"Oh, my God." Belle whispered, leaning closer to the screen.

"Holy crap." Celine murmured.

Mei blinked. "[insert colorful vocabulary here.]"


	53. Scarring Pasts

**Question: Why does it always take me a million years to update? Hmm… good question. I actually hate it when people say that because I find many of the people who do just don't have the guts to say "I don't know" like this helmet safety guy who came to our school and said "That's a good question!" When I asked which side of the road equestrians should ride on. He knew which side was good for bikers and runners and kayakers, but the gods forbid horses mess up the asphalt. **

** Okay, now I'm sounding bitter. Which I'm not. I'm just ranting.**

** Anyway, I figure you guys just want the chapter (I had a lot of fun writing it, though it took aggggeeeeesssss) so I hope you enjoy.**

** ENORMOUS thanks to anyone who favorited, read, reviewed, clicked. I read all your reviews, compadres, and even when I don't have time to respond individually to you all, my thanks go out to you. Seriously.**

** And thank you to anyone who read and reviewed my new one-shot, since I'm not going to post another chapter just to thank you because I hate it when I go in thinking, "Cool! Another chapter!" And then it's just like, "My appreciation to all those wonderful people who went out of their way to make my day awesome."**

** Onward.**

** My initials stand for Emergency Room, not Jumping Pandas, so, obviously, I don't own any characters BUT Mei, Celine, Belle, their parents, the receptionist at Dr. M's clinic, my scientists, and the stars on Ella's ceiling. Mr. Jumping Pandas owns the rest.**

**Chapter Fifty-Three:**

Some figures for you:

During the whole _Titanic _catastrophe, most people lasted about fifteen minutes before falling asleep and ultimately dying while submerged in the frigid water. Granted, that water had ice floes, which this huge pool didn't, but I think the fact that I lasted a whole fifty minutes before finally losing the ability in my legs to kick should count for something. Nothing personal to humans.

I somehow managed to get to the edge of the pool where it took a good more ten minutes before I managed to completely pull myself out. Then I lay there, shivering, for a few more until I shakily got to my knees, and after a few tries, realized my legs were currently incapable of holding me up. So I stumble-crawled across to the Flock and co. with the final freaking torpedo. I would never allow the kids to play with those little suckers again. I hated it. Hated being weak, watching the EMs watch me and know that they could take me apart in seconds in this weakened state. I hated the smug looks on the scientists' faces, like they thought this would break me. And I especially hated how I physically couldn't walk to show them all up. Even though it sucked to be thrown back in the cage, I was at least spared extra feelings of rage by having to crawl and watch people watch my efforts.

Yeah, the whole situation basically stank like Gazzy after a lunch of Mexican and a dinner of fish and garlic.

We were chained back randomly, Fang in the corner furthest from the door, and Nudge and I on both sides. Then came Ig, Ella, Gaz, mom and Angel, looping around the room. The scientists left after granting me the twenty sandwiches, which Fang sniffed and nibbled at to check for poison (my hands didn't appear to be working, either) and then passed them around when he hadn't started clutching at his throat and gulping for air.

"You feeling okay, Max?" Total asked, peering at me with an odd little Scottie dog look. "You look blue."

"F-f-f-f-ine." I managed to whisper, hating myself even more.

"She always says that." He turned to confide in my mom, who was also watching me and paying no attention to her sandwiches. "We've come up with four possible meanings behind this word: 1. She just suffered a brain attack. 2. She is really, really angry. Angrier than the Montagues when they found out that Romeo killed Thibault. 3. She's about to throw up or something. And number four is something really messed up. Like, she just found out that one of is a traitor but won't tell anyone until she has thought it through. This falls under 3. Sickness."

"I-i-i-m-m-m," I stammered, throwing Total the Evil Eye, which he has grown to ignore. "No-ot s-s-s-ick."

"Max," Mom frowned, trying to cover up fear with concern. "Hypothermia can still set in after removal from the setting. Your core temperature is probably too low, you need to warm up."

Any snappy rebuttal like "How? It's not like I can do anything in these chains" was messed up by my lips seeming to decide they were tired of working. As if they had put up much of an effort for these past few sentences.

Fang crawled closer, pushing my share of sandwiches into my hands and sitting as close as possible, our backs against the wall. He was still a good few inches, but he unfurled one of his glossy dark wings and wrapped it around my shoulders. I turned to look at him, attempting to smile. I knew what it took any of us to expand our wings in a place like this place where our feathery extremities had been abused in every opportunity possible, and I appreciated it. I huddled closer to him, pressing against his lean shoulder and wing and fumbled with my sandwich. The taste of dry crust managed to awaken my stomach and make me realize just how hungry I was, which made it slightly easier to wolf all three down.

"I hate that French lady." Ella muttered, picking at her sandwich as if she had lost her appetite. "She makes me ashamed to know the same language."

"Oh, and I have a question." Nudge looked to Ella, then around at the rest of us. "Aren't Canada and France supposed to be buddies? Like, why are the two whitecoats-Roux and Ruth-always arguing? Even more than Lamy? They're not taking very good care of their allies."

"Politics only go so far." Iggy told her. "Personal dislike is sometimes too hard to beat. I'm not really sure if anyone likes them, they're so rude and obnoxious. Granted," He amended, smirking in my direction. "God knows you're obnoxious and rude sometimes, Max."

"And people still like me?" I managed a shaky laugh and Fang tightened his wing around my shoulders. "Gee, thanks."

I was just beginning to doze off on Fang's shoulder for the first time in memory, practically, when the door buzzed open. I had been almost content with his warm feathers around me, a security blanket to the awful place, and his smell a remedy to my nightmares.

That sounds rather poetic and fluffy, doesn't it? Who knows, maybe I'm on my way to a sonnet. Total would be proud.

But anyway, we all looked at this whitecoat (the same one whom Fang had reportedly stuffed into a cage) feigning disinterest as he set up a Cubik projector and dimmed the lights.

He glared at us. "Enjoy." And stood in the cornet.

I doubted it. Fang and I exchanged looks, and wriggled a little to the side for ultimate viewing experience. Whatever hell these videos put me and my families through, I wanted to watch them so I knew what they would be throwing at us, so I wouldn't be in the dark. And yet the first image of this one almost made me take back that statement.

It was Fang. Again. A younger Fang, in what I recognized as Jeb's study. There wasn't any dust, but everything was exactly where it had been when he had disappeared. I would know. I practically memorized that room, sitting and watching as if it would make him come home. But Fang was bent over the haphazard desk, pushing aside a few papers before he came to Jeb's practically Stone Age telephone. There was a little red one bleeping in and out of view. One new message. That hadn't been there when I had checked. Onscreen, Fang's eyebrows shot practically into his hairline. This was the equivalent of flimsy women fainting or extreme shouts of surprise. He glanced to the door, shut tight, and then pressed the little button to play back messages.

_"Batchelder, this is Nickson, 12:32 on Tuesday. I thought you would be interested in hearing about some new data I gathered on the _lupine_ crosses. They are superb guards, suitable for any task. Thought you might want to come down and check them out. Don't let the avians get out of hand. The Director wants to talk with you."_

_ "End of new messages."_

Fang had frozen, his eyes saucers, staring at the phone as if reading it for answers. My breath had frozen in my chest. His wing had stiffened around me, no longer comforting. Fang played the message three more times until he was interrupted by a crash upstairs, and he bolted out of the room. The screen switched to a view of him appearing at the top of the stairs, where I was picking up the fragments of a picture frame.

I glanced up, nodded, and continued to pick up the glass and plunk it into the trashcan. I would have recognized his panicked expression had it been any other time, but I had just confirmed what I had been thinking about. Jeb was believed dead, he had been missing maybe two weeks. Jeb had always promised he would be back from shopping and work within three days, and to never look for him if he was gone any longer. He had exceeded the limit by eleven days, and I had given up hope.

"Max." Fang said my name urgently, darting around to stand by the trashcan. "Jeb's study has a phone."

I glanced at him. It was old news. "Yeah?"

"I went in." He explained quickly. "There was a message on the phone."

He had caught my attention, but whether it was the words, the voice, or his eyes begging for my understanding I didn't know, if I ever had. I narrowed my eyes, challenging him.

"And you listened to it?" I hissed. "That's his private work phone-he told us to never touch it! We aren't even supposed to be in his study!" My eyes were furious, my fists clenched at my side. "What were you even doing in there, snooping for more accusations? You got what you wanted, Fang," I snarled, "He's gone. He is dead. Jeb isn't coming back. You don't need to convince me of anything."

"The message was from two days ago." Fang interrupted, not responding to my anger and instead sounding much calmer than his eyes made him out to be. "The speaker, Nickson, wanted Jeb to come back. Look at the lupine crosses. Watch out for avians. Max… I don't think he's dead. I think he's-"

"He's what?" I interrupted, kicking the trash can aside so I could get right up in Fang's face. He was taller than me, a fact I usually detested but in the heat of the moment obviously didn't care about. "A traitor? Enough, Fang! Okay? Can't you just go rejoice in private or something?" My voice shook, I was barely holding it together. Fang's eyes flashed.

"I'm not lying-"

"_Jeb is dead_!" I screamed, shoving him in the chest. "He's gone! You've won, okay? You don't have to deal with him anymore! You don't have to keep telling me your fears about him, because even if he was evil, he's not coming back!"

Fang pushed me away, but still sounded as if he was just discussing the weather when he told me, "It was a message from the School. We're not safe."

"This is our home!" I yelled. "We are safer here than we will ever be anywhere else! Angel's four, Iggy's blind, I'm twelve, and you expect us to just up and leave because of your stupid vendetta? Jeb wasn't _evil_!"

Fang's eyes had narrowed to slits. "You think I would make something this important up? He was a whitecoat!"

"He rescued us!" I reminded him. "He saved us. He told me the stories about the outside that you loved so much back in the School. He brought us extra food. And now he's dead! And I don't know what you have against him, but can't you at least stop making up lies?"

This last shouted phrase had utterly broken Fang's resolve, and visible hurt flashed across his face as he took a step back, speechless in the non-Fang way of simply not knowing what to say, rather than choosing not to say it.

"You can talk to me when you have something useful to say." I spat, lifting my chin and obviously trying very hard not to cry.

Fang just stood there for a moment, looking at my shaking form, at the scattered trash, at the photo of Angel and the Gasman on the swings we had made that was crumpled under my foot. He didn't say anything, but the expression on his face was enough to make me whirl around and burrow into the closest room-mine-the door slamming shut behind me. The camera followed Fang back downstairs, through the kitchen, and into the study. He took one more look at the flashing red number, then pressed "Delete."

A door slammed. He jumped, pushed the papers back into place, and walked through the open doorway as casually as can be.

"Hey, Fang." Iggy muttered, unzipping Angel's puffy pink coat. Fang said nothing. "What were you doing in there?"

Fang's face was expressionless, a mask of resolve that didn't flicker under Angel's unwavering stare or Gazzy bouncing at Iggy's feet.

"You don't miss him." Said Angel in an uncannily wise voice for someone so young. Fang made no comment, made to go upstairs, remembered I was there, grabbed his coat and headed out the door.

The screen went blank. The lights switched on. And I was left wondering how who I thought was my best friend had lived with me for the past two years.

"Fang, I-" I whispered, unsure of what to say to the dark eyed boy sitting next to me. But he shook his head, giving me the _It's okay _look. I must have given him one along the lines of _uh, how the hell can it be okay? _because he just said matter-of-factly,

"You were distraught. And didn't want to believe."

I felt traitorous, sitting there in his winged hug after what I had forgotten I had ever said was revealed on screen.

"But-"

"Forget it." He shook his head. "I told you at the wrong time."

"There wasn't a wrong time to tell me about hearing something like that." I protested, shaking my head and backing away from him. "If we heard something like that now, we would be up and away before I could call anyone a liar."

He flicked a look at me, and I dropped it. To be taken up another time.

"How cute." Sneered the whitecoat. "The little birds are twittering back and forth."

"How ugly," Gaz impersonated with his usual uncanny accuracy, "Your face."

The whitecoat recoiled.

"'Your mom' jokes totally beat 'your face' jokes." Iggy advised him seriously. Gazzy nodded, saving this bit of information, and adjusted his joke.

"Are you part snake?" Ella asked the man. "You have a rather good hiss of displeasure. Is that a rattle in your pocket?"

I snorted, and pushed off the wall to get to my feet. I raised an eyebrow at the whitecoat.

"Can I help you?"

"You can't."

He obviously didn't realize how immature he sounded. I can get away with comebacks like that because I'm fourteen. This guy was supposed to have a degree. But, seeing where he worked, I wasn't sure where he should stand on the maturity scale.

"Ooh, rejected." Total chuckled.

"The dark one can."

Fang didn't say anything, but he did sigh exaggeratedly and blink a few times, as if nodding off to sleep. The man made as if to come forward and kick Fang's legs, but one look at my expression and Fang's immediate jump to his feet, and he backed away. Wise choice. The man's brown puckered, shaving scars and a badly shaven beard making his face look slightly more demonic than the Erasers, who were practically the Devil personified. I've heard the Devil was an angel before he fell, but aren't we all?

"One of my coworkers heard that you six had decided to grace us with your presences again." The man said gruffly, as if he was irritated at being sent as a messenger but looking forward to where this might be going. "He said to send his regards to you, dark one, and to hope that he is as etched in your memory as you are in his."

Foreboding, much? I turned to Fang. "'Dark One,' pretty good supervillain title, don't you think? Like, listen to this. 'Stephanie was unsure of where she was, why she was there, and how she had fallen asleep in her cozy sitting room and woken up in this strange country village. She went from passerby to passerby, market stall to shop front, but as soon as she asked if there was anyone she could talk to, the villagers turned away muttering, "The Dark One will get her soon."'"

"'Stephanie turned away from the sheep herder after yet another mysterious proclamation, determined to find a serious answer among all this superstition. Surely the Dark One, whatever that was, would just be the production of superstition run rampant among old-fashioned farmers? And yet the only person who would look at her long enough to notice more than her city clothing simply told her not to worry, that the One would kill her soon so to spend her remaining time doing what she wished.'"

I whistled. "Nice, Ig. Very creative. Let's see… 'Stephanie continued to remind herself that this was all tomfoolery, that no sensible person would ever turn away a young girl lost in a strange world, that no sensible person would threaten her with a name whispered with fear… but then she found herself thinking that nothing about this situation was sensible. None of these people wore jeans, or had ever heard of a phone when she asked. There were no cars, no cell towers or electricity lines in the distance. The women all wore skirts. _They must be Amish_, she thought. But that still left the questions of how did she get there? And who was the Dark One?'"

"Real flattering image." Fang muttered. "A force praying on young girls."

Iggy snorted. I could see mom trying to retain a laugh for the sake of the younger kids.

Gazzy's nose wrinkled. "I dunno. Sounds kinda lame to me."

The whitecoat's gruff voice raised above our chatter in what was clearly meant to be a dominating tone.

"I present Doctor Henry Silverman. I command you all to be silent."

By now you've probably gathered that we don't quiet down when it doesn't fit into our agendas. We do, however, stop the goofing when one of our Flock members is severely affected by something. Example: Making up stories while poking fun at Fang stopped immediately as the doors opened and in stepped another man. He was older, with a head of receding gray hair and age spots on his lean features. His overall appearance was very vulture-like, tall thin with piercing eyes that reflected the cruelty of the man inside. Although creepy, he wasn't enough to get us to stop what we were doing. Fang's reaction was.

His wings, still partially extended, snapped back to fold under his t-shirt audible, so quick was the action performed. The chains around his feet clattered against the tile floor as he instinctively darted as far back from the man as the restraints could allow. This practically barreled him into me, but he shoved me backwards and behind him as he backed up. I ducked away, stepping to the side, to get a closer look at the man and make sure he didn't shift into something sinister-because how else would he make Fang react so?-but kept one eye on Fang. His breathing had stopped, eyes wide in alarm.

"Hello." The man said. His voice was nothing exceptional, it did not cause us to start writhing in pain, but the soft tone he used immediately had the hair at the base of my neck rising. I don't know how I could tell-if I had heard his voice on the radio, it would sound vaguely familiar, but very closed-off. If he had been on the radio, I would have been suspicious that he was an Eraser with a silky smooth voice adept at persuasion.

"I am Doctor Silverman. But then," He flashed an awful grin, a leer, in Fang's direction, "One of you obviously already recognizes me. Care to introduce me, Fang?"

Soft voice+Fang's name=total assurance and confidence in what he did. Awesome if he was on our side. God awful that he wasn't. Something about it tugged at my mind, but I couldn't grasp it.

"Leave him alone." I growled.

"It's been years, Maximum." His eyes glittered, rather like a starving man might look at a steak. They moved from me to Fang, back and forth. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the others on their feet. Total was even bristling. "You must have been… six, was it, when I last saw you? I would say I'm surprised at how you've grown, but when you have scientific research such as mine, very little about you experiments surprises me."

"What do you want here?" My mom snapped at him, her eyes flashing in a very dangerous way. She stepped forward, as far as her chains would allow, but this didn't stop her from holding herself like he was in a cage on the floor at her feet.

He ignored her.

"Hello? Has age affected your hearing, Doctor? Are you aware that there are human beings in here? Do you find yourself too self-important to speak with anyone you deem unworthy?"

"Fang," Silverman continued as if she hadn't said anything, taking a step closer to the pair of us. My fists felt able to burst concrete, let alone his skull. "If this woman is so interested in learning about why I am here, why don't you tell her? You see," He threw a glance over his shoulder at mom. "We go way back, Fang and I. He knew who I was before he knew who dearest Maximum was. Now, Fang," Something steely entered his tone, "_Tell her who I am_."

Fang flinched, but held his tongue. My hand tightened around his wrist.

Silverman clucked. "Maximum, Maximum, _Maximum_. Why did you let him get so wild? You've practically ruined all the obedience I enforced upon him."

_Wild _is not usually a term I use to describe Fang.

"I didn't _let_ him do anything." I snarled. "I didn't torture him. I didn't take away his free will."

"Jeb's training has dulled on you, as well." He continued, unabashed. "Nothing a few remedial sessions won't return to the both of you. Until then, I'll answer the questions. Again, I'm Doctor Silverman. I took care-"

"Abused." Iggy spat. Silverman paid him no attention.

"Of your Fang until he was abducted from my care-"

"Care?" Nudge laughed sardonically, unusually cruel sounding. I was proud of her to not let this guy show her any BS. "Yeah, obviously you took great care of him. Which explains exactly why-"

"You say that, and yet you do not realize what I taught him. Not only did I greatly enhance his stamina, his drive to continue, his durability in extreme situations, but I taught him what humans would be learning in school. No," He had seen my eyes flicker. I damned him. "Not mathematics, nor spelling or English. I taught him the only things you really need to know in this world-schools classify the two subjects as History, and I believe, Geography.

"I taught history so he could learn from humanity, see how the world has progressed during her extended life. I taught him the parts of the world so he would always be able to find water, find food, find shelter, fit in with the public if it was demanded."

This stopped me cold. How many times had Fang been able to recognize a poisonous plant from a nonlethal? How many times had he told me handy little tricks for finding water in the mountains and deserts, or how to turn salt water into fresh water if you had the time? What the hell was this man doing?

"You might say I prepared you for your lives on the run, which is exactly as I intended to do so. Fang, do you remember the main concept, the big idea of what I taught you?"

I had to hand it to Fang, scared and traumatized as he was, he was still capable of unleashing The Fang Glare. I squeezed his hand.

Silverman waved it away. "I'll have you answering questions again soon. It was this: the world changes. Whether slowly or abruptly, everything changes. I knew that someday, if they was not retired, Fang and those like him would have to survive on their own. I taught you this."

He had began walking around the room in leisurely circles, just out of reach of any hands that could reach out and grab him. I bet he knew exactly where the chains would hold us back, like cats taunting chained dogs in neighboring yards.

"We started recently, in history. The unit on the World Trade Center attacks was brief. I had him escape a burning room. Then there were wars and battles… Korea, Vietnam, battles and refugee camps in Africa, religious division in Ireland, Communist China... many units. Those were brief. Aside from the basic geography and the weapons and tactics used during these traumatic time periods, we moved swiftly despite his young age. You avian experiments have brains that progress much faster than that of a human, you are capable of advanced speech and learning comprehension at much younger ages.

"Then we moved to the Holocaust. My father fought in World War Two, I had a lot I wished to teach Fang. Tell me, Fang," Who was now shaking, "What was the gas they used to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, and anyone deemed unfit by Nazi government?"

I hadn't been expecting Fang to answer. Up until now he had been silent, but I was watching his face, praying for him, and I saw his lips move, even if I didn't hear the whisper.

"That's right!" Silverman purred. "Zyklon B. And where was the extermination camp that it was first used?"

"Auschwitz." The whisper was faint, barely audible, but we all heard.

"How many people died in the Auschwitz concentration camps?"

"Between one and one and a half million."

"How many sections of Auschwitz were there?"

"Three."

"Name them."

"No."

He froze, smug smile fading as he turned on his heel, just a _foot _out of my reach, and glared at Fang.

"Excuse me?"

This time, Fang didn't reply. My hand had lost sensation, so hard was I holding his and he holding mine.

"Fang." He said softly. "Tell me the three main partitions of the Auschwitz concentration camp used during the second World War."

The rest of us were silent as the dead. Tears were welling in mom's eyes. I begged Fang to look up from my, to take his gaze from his feet. His back shook, the air held back in his throat.

"Oswiecim, Birkenau and Monowitz-Buna."

The smile returned.

"And explain to these kind people why the term 'Auschwitz' has come to represent the very Holocaust itself. Why does it differ from the five other extermination camps?"

"It was known as a labor concentration camp. The hard work for extended periods weakened the prisoners, along with disease and starvation. People were selected to be taken to the gas chambers for a supposedly humane death, if they weren't executed from the start."

Nudge let out a little sob.

"And, tell me, what was the point of exterminating races of people?"

Fang's hand tightened, his whole arm sending vibrations into mine. But he raised his head and looked past me, and straight at Dr. S. His voice sounded much stronger than he looked.

"Because they were different."

The man's eyes flickered. "Wrong."

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Really?"

"Essentially, it is correct." He allowed, bearing no grudging tone but actually sounding like a teacher who just wanted his student to get the answer correct. It made me want to shudder. "But it is not specific enough. Everyone is different, but not everyone was killed."

"Only because of the opposition." Fang dropped his dark, dark eyes again, shielding them behind his raven hair, and then they flicked up to meet my eyes. "Only because there were people who saw that it was wrong. And they fought against it."

"Wrong again. The Nazis were just exterminating the supposedly impure peoples of the world."

"They started with Gypsies." Fang murmured, his eyes not leaving mine. They were soft, open, allowing the world to see that he spoke the truth. In that moment, hearing his voice and holding his hand and looking into his eyes, I just wanted to bury my head in his chest and hold him tight and make sure he never, ever, had to be hurt again. "They started with the Jews. Those who opposed the genocide were beaten or disappeared. Civilians were bombed and shot without mercy. How long would it be until you had to be German? Had to be white? Had to be a Nazi, to not be killed?"

"Can you prove that it would have gone that far?"

"Can you prove that it wouldn't?" He shot back.

"We were speaking of the Holocaust, not Socrates."

"We were speaking about right and wrong."

"So you think you can define right and wrong?"

"I think I can draw the line at killing people who have done nothing wrong but rather practice a different religion, look different."

"But," Silverman tutted. "What is _wrong_?"

"Child abuse." Fang told him pointedly. "Among other things."

"You see," He turned back to face everyone else. "This is why I love having you all around. Such stimulating conversation! Although," Now he turned back to Fang and I. It killed me to see Fang flinch. "You are not acting as disciplined as you should be… I'll take care of that. Make a note to talk to Dr. Matsumoto to give me some one-on-one time with you dark one, here."

The other whitecoat jotted something down on a clipboard. It took me a moment to realize that Dr. Matsumoto must be Lamy. I thought Lamy sounded better, personally.

"You'll do no such thing." Mom stated coldly. If she had used that tone on me I would no it was time to give up and go home, but the doctor just sighed in very exhausted way.

"I have no interest in arguing with you, madam."

"Doctor." She snapped.

This piqued his interest. "Of?"

"Veterinary medicine."

He smirked, but regarded her with new light. Apparently storing this away for future use, he stalked back over toward Fang and I, eyes darting from one to the other. We stood side by side.

"After the Holocaust," he said, "We went through many historic movements like witch hunts, the Crusades, Rome's Empire, the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs of South and Central America. We covered the trials of the Native Americans as they dealt with the Spanish conquistadors, the French, British, and colonists, and each other… The battles of the Celts. The Vikings and Norsemen, Edwardian and Elizabethan era Europe, and the French Revolution. If it all stuck as well as his knowledge on the wars in the 20th century, then I'm sure it is just as extensive as it ever was. For example… what happened to deserters of the Roman army?"

"They killed them." Fang murmured, but added with new determination. "If they were caught."

"If that is a metaphor for your situation, you are dismally out of luck for you are very much caught. Although, you may notice that we had to come up with cages on short notice and just found it more prudent to chain you this time."

Fang didn't respond, again finding solace in looking at his feet. No matter how much he had spoken or tried to defend himself, his defeat was all in his posture, his hunched shoulders and quiet voice. What killed me with how I was almost _angry _with him for acting so docile, for replying, for speaking such sentences to this awful man, when he had obviously been abused into it from his past. I knew the feeling, I knew what it was like to start to sing along to a hum and then to stop abruptly because I had a whitecoat once who slashed my wrist every time I sang for Angel's benefit. So why was I angry? Probably because all my pent up anger at Dr. Silverbastard, my hunger and fatigue and sorrow went right into the people I care about. The Flock gets pretty sick of me venting on them.

"You done yet?" I asked him, lip curled. "Because I can only listen to so much bull crap until I go crazy."

"What I have to say isn't nonsense, Maximum." He said matter of factly. "It's true. Go on. Ask Fang about anything. Hadrian's Wall, Saladin, the reign on Pompey, the deserters who lurked in the Vietnam forests and still live there, half mad, convinced that the war is still going on."

"I will not!" I snapped. "Why? A, because I don't take orders. B, because I think you're a psychotic creepster who somehow gets high off of abusing young children and then coming back to taunt them when they're older? I mean, who the _hell _do you think you are, to have this kind of power over-"

"Shut up."

"You know what? I don't think I will. I think you need to beat it before I beat you from here to next year-"

"Maximum," He spun to me, eyes flashing. Fang's arms twitched, wanting to pull me back, thanks to the brainwashing effects of his younger years, but his more recent experiences telling him to stand his ground. "I told you to shut up. Nobody cares with what you have to say."

This struck a bell, and for a moment I was left scrambling while he smirked, thinking he was triumphant. A video clip flashed in front of my mind, Fang's voice…

"You're Silverman!" I declared, jumping when I finally realized this was what I had been thinking of. He turned back to look at me, probably jotting down some mental reminders about how my IQ was about ten.

"I thought we had established that."

"No," I grinned. "You're the Silverman the Director mentioned when she smashed me into a wall! I pushed my crate on your head when I was four! No wonder you don't like me."

His sneer had frozen.

"Because I know when someone is so obnoxious to me, it either means that my natural charm isn't working," I shrugged, "Or we have a bad history."

"One of the two." Iggy intoned dryly.

I've started to take it as a bad omen when whitecoats whirl around in fury and stalk out of the room. It usually means the come back with something more sadistic than usual in mind.

"Funny," Ella watched the doors slide shut. "I thought we had been getting along."


	54. Aragog Reborn

**I'm on page 500 on my word document with this entire story. Holy buckets-almost as surprising as how fast I updated (one day!)**

**Anyway, I hope there aren't too many spelling errors in this. Have to go upstairs and prepare for the school week, but I want to update this chapter. **_**The Lord of the Rings**_** and **_**Harry Potter **_**references of chapters come to place here, and some minor Fax.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter Fifty-Four:**

Dr. Silverman _himself _didn't come back, but I think being recaged was his doing. We were thrown together in twos at random, and Fang and I ended up together in a (thankfully) pretty big crate. There was enough room for us to stand up straight and pace from one side to the other. I was thinking that they were going to be pretty permanent, which sucked big time, but at least they were large pretty permanent prisons.

See? Let it never be said that I, Maximum Ride, am not optimistic. At times. I wasn't feeling too optimistic when they inserted a grate between Fang and I and tugged me out, tied me to a dining room chair, and opened up a window that allowed us to look into what I thought was another room. It was dark, and the square of light from our new room cast odd shadows against lumpy rocks on the ground. I figured it was something's home. It got even worse when one of the EMs told me that if I acted up they would gas the whole room then and there. Somewhere, a whitecoat flipped a little switch that puffed some cloudy haze in through a grate in the ceiling. Angel, the closest, coughed.

However, at least I was the one who apparently had to undergo an activity now. I think Fang was pretty worn out, and I would willingly do anything these whitecoats suggested so that no one else had to.

"10442," The EM in charge began, eyeing me with extreme dislike. They all looked pretty similar, I doubted they had a lot of genetic diversity, but I was sure I must have hurt him at some point. I didn't respond, but I did listen, following the advice given long ago to listen to them and learn how to fight that way. "The rest of your… family will stay in here. You are going to be taken into the room next door. You will have to survive in a stable environment for one hour, after which you will be permitted back. I'd say good luck, but…"

I narrowed my eyes. How his longed to be scratched, how I wished I could smack that leer off his wolfy face. I nodded once to Fang as another EM boosted me up onto a rolling platform, and his head dipped in barely acknowledged ascent. He was in charge. As I was rolled out of the room, I was already tensing and relaxing my muscles to keep them warm for the fight I foresaw ahead. Ever since my family had first been captured on the desert, my body had been dying to rip and fight and win. But I still wondered as the door closed behind me and I rolled down the narrow white hall, if I would ever see them again.

"Wheeeee." I said coldly as my guide rolled me across the threshold, but I stopped quickly as I knocked against the strange debris on the floor. Hearing them rattle and roll away, seeing gleaming white from the light in the hall, I didn't examine the floor too closely, afraid that my new guess might be more accurate than rocks. I looked into the window, instead. The cages of my family had been moved closer to the long window for better views. Iggy was listening closely to what Ella murmured in his ear, his face an intent picture that no video screen could imitate. Gaz was bunked with mom, and Ang and Nudge were anxiously wringing their hands out. Total was whining on Nudge's lap. Fang met my eyes and blinked twice. _Watch out._ I sent him a very obvious _no freaking duh _look. What could have been a ghostly smile flickered in his eyes, but he was too tense to actually move his facial muscles.

A whitecoat kicked the base of my chair.

"Knocking is only required when there is a door present." I told him. "Back off, will you?"

He laughed coldly and circled around my chair, tapping my tied wrists and feet. I would have broken his nose if I could.

"Maximum." He smiled, leaning close enough that I could see his discolored teeth and age spots in the light from the window. "It has come to our attention that you are a _Lord of the Rings _fan?"

"I've seen the movies." I smiled. "But if you're treating me to a video projection, don't I at least get popcorn? Granted, the smell in here might make me regurgitate it for you to clean up after the showing, but small loss, hm?"

Instead of getting flustered or raising his voice, he just smirked and continued.

"And you've seen the _Harry Potter _films?"

"Is there a point to this question? Like, are you going to tell me I'm a wizard? Or, witch, I guess. Is this like an interpretation of the Forbidden Forest? Points for the darkness and smell of decay but, like, trees? Where are they?"

"Do you know who Aragog is?"

"Have _you _seen the movies?"

He nodded agreeably. "My granddaughter likes them. I got her a Ravenclaw scarf for her birthday."

How could someone who had a _granddaughter _still abuse children? Did she know what an awful man he was? Was he really so twisted to believe that this was okay, that he could sign death warrants over her Funfetti birthday dinner? Through the glass, I could see mom's jaw drop.

"So, we're back to the question: who is Aragog?"

Good question, this stumped me. A student, maybe? A Quidditch player? I hadn't seen the movies since our last visit to my mom's house, and they were good, but I didn't have a lot of time to obsess over the "brilliance that is _Harry Potter._"-Ella J. Martinez.

"A Slytherin?"

He clicked his tongue and walked over to the glass, which had opened but had bars to keep people back. The others immediately tensed into cautious contact stances, the ones where we're able to immediately leap into action, but still look relatively casual. Because who knew if the whitecoat would suddenly leap through the glass yelling "HYAH!" like in cheesy Jackie Chan movies.

"Do any of you know?"

I saw Ella's mouth twitch and repress a smile. Fang nodded her on.

"Aragog is the leader of the acromantulae that live in the Forbidden Forest."

The whitecoat nodded, seeming pleased. "Can you further explain?"

She looked again to Fang, who nodded again.

"He's an enormous spider. Acromantulae venom is extremely poisonous, and very valuable, but hard to attain because the spiders eat humans."

I remembered now. Aragog was in the second movie, when the people who played Ron and Harry were still small and pecky, and the pair traveled into the forest and were attacked by enormous spiders. Awesome, encouraging thoughts for whatever I was doing now. He asked if she knew who Shelob was, and this time, I was positive that I had no idea. She nodded.

"Shelob is the spider in the third _Lord of the Rings_, _The Return of the King_. She lives in caves in the mountains on the edge of Mordor. She's not as big as Aragog, but Tolkein writes a whole poem about how bloodthirsty she is. She doesn't like anybody, except for dinner, and even Aragog likes Hagrid, at least. Anymore questions to waste our time when you already know the answer, or are you enjoying yourself?"

The whitecoat cocked his head to the side. Mom shot an arm out, as if this could somehow protect her daughter. Iggy drew her back.

"Minus the attitude, you remind me of my granddaughter. She loves fantasy books. Actually gave me the idea for this test." He turned back to me, grinning with self achievement. "This whole thing is my creation. Enjoy yourself."

Right. That's likely. He left the room, leaving me looking into the darkness, and the dim lights from the other room, which had darkened to give them better views of this room. I fidgeted against my bonds, found them tied tightly, but I was a pro at wriggling when I wasn't interrupted. A few minutes later, my feet were free. My hands were not. The bones reflected an eerie red glow emitting from a clock about the door. 57:21, and ticking. Awesome.

"So, Ella." I called through the window. "How did, uh, Aragog and Shelob die? Just out of curiosity's sake."

"Aragog died of old age." Her mouth twisted into a "sorry to say this" smile. "But Shelob _hated _light. Frodo almost escaped because he had the light Galadriel had given him, but then she stung him. Luckily Sam came and stabbed her. Then orcs carried Frodo off."

"Okay. They're both poisonous?"

"Uh… yeah. Sorry."

_C'mon optimism… think of something good about the situation._

The others weren't in here, too. I could live with that, even if my throat was dry with fear and my head ached for need of water and food. I pricked my ears, hearing something scuttle in the distance. Bones crunched under a foot. Then another. I counted seven more slow steps. Pause. Eight more. The light from the window only light a small sphere in front of it. In the position I had been tied in, I couldn't look up, but anything ten feet on was dark as pitch. Speaking of which, pitch is basically pine sap, that people dry out, which turns it black. Thought I'd let you know, since she had used the term a while ago and I wondered where it came from. Personally, I think that if few people even know what pine pitch is, we should say "dark as tar" or "dark as oil" or something, but I think "pitch dark" has a better ring than "oily dark" so I guess the only solution is to educate the public on what pitch is. Who knows, maybe you learn about it at school, but I sure didn't.

I scooted back closer to the window, closer to the light. _Take that, Shelob._

Behind me, Angel whimpered.

"Max-its closer. It's just on the edge. It's coming." She whispered. "I can't control its mind, I don't understand it."

There goes plan X. My back bumped against the wall. More skittery steps, circling around. And then, when the clock read 55:31, something gleamed out of the darkness. Eight shiny orbs. They blinked rapidly, ducked back, then appeared again. I raised my foot, ready to block anything and everything that might come my way. And then something came flying out of the darkness.

I had never imagined a scent so disgusting, so stomach turning. Good thing mine was empty, because imagine two day old road kill on the side of a highway in ninety-eight degree weather. Yeah, it was worse. Probing sticks-legs, I thought, shrieking like a little girl on the inside-jammed into my stomach. I kicked them away, the chair flipping sideways and landing on my shoulder. Mother of _God… _

This did, however, break the chair, so the ropes slid lose and I was free for an instant to jump to my feet and instinctively whirl into a roundhouse kick. Something squished. Something screamed. For a moment, the creature backed away, its face ducked down between its grotesque front legs. They were covered in thick hair the length of an unmowed lawn after a week of light rain. There were eight, each ending in gleaming black claw-like feet. Pincers, I guess. The front one, shiny in the light, was the one that had scored my stomach. It was shallow, but the front of my shirt stuck to my skin. Fuck-that wouldn't help. The freakiest part, aside from the seven other eyes that glared up at me, were the two large fangs that made up its mouth. I swear, the biggest pair of sharp, deadly, buck teeth you have ever seen. And I'm pretty sure I saw a stinger under it's pointed rear end, as well. Fantastic. The whole spider was the size of a loveseat couch.

"Ella," I breathed. "Which part is venomous?"

She croaked and tried again. All two of my eyes were on the thing in front of me, so I could only hear the fear in her voice. "Aragog had fangs. Shelob used the stinger. And she had fangs. I dunno."

One of the legs dropped back to the floor. Eyeball number seven. Trained on me. I tensed. The other leg dropped, and suddenly I was again flying through the air as it jumped at me. I raised a foot, planting it right between each set of four eyes, and pushed it's head away, but two pincers still held me tight against the wall. I could feel them breaking the skin on my waist, through my jeans, but I mustered all my will to look the spider straight in all eight of its eyes.

"Put. Me. Down."

I didn't know if it spoke, but I've heard even if an animal can't understand another, it can understand the tone they use. That's why wolves don't speak, they howl. They don't have to yell, "WORD! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE! PACK MEETING!" They just have to howl. Much cooler. Well, maybe this thing didn't understand English, but my voice was plenty challenging itself.

And-get this-it did. I did drop ten feet to the ground, twisting my ankle, but it actually put me down and backed away. It huddled at the edge of the light for a minute, but then hunched down as if in a bow, and looked up at me. One of the eyes was swollen shut-only seven reflected the light.

"Sorry."

Okay. Scientists at the School are certified psychotic nutcases in lab coats, but nothing, _nothing,_ I had ever experienced prepared me for this speaking spider.

My jaw dropped.

"Excuse me?" I whispered, more out of habit out of responding than out of need to hear again. Maybe I had hit my head when I fell.

"Sorry." The voice was louder, raspier, crackier, but definitely the same voice. Coming from between the front teeth. That would be the slight hiss that went along with the word.

"_Why _are you apologizing?" I asked. Again, habit to respond in weird situations. It was the habit that had me insulting and bantering with whitecoats and authority figures.

"You sound like my sister. I am sorry."

My God. Goddess. Whatever. I flicked a glance to the others. Even Fang's eyes were wide with shock. Ella, surprisingly, was the only one who did not seem to be.

"Aragog and Shelob could both talk." She justified, seeing me watching her out of the corner of my eye.

"In _Middle-Earth_." I croaked, then shook my head. I looked back at the creature, then out in the surrounding darkness. "You have a sister?"

"You know her." It told me. "You mention her. And you mention my mother."

So they had been named after the inspirations. Fantastic. "And, uh, where are they?"

It moved its body in what I took to be a shrug. "I do not know. I do not stay with them, very much. They are mean. They are cruel. They are demanding. You sound like them."

Ouch. Despite himself, I heard Iggy stifle a snort. I shot him a look, realized he couldn't see it, and gestured to Ella, who whispered to Iggy, who laughed again. Even mom's mouth was quirked into a smile.

"Well," I stuttered. "I guess, uh, sorry? I don't know many spiders. That talk."

"We are the only three." The voice rasped again. "There are no others in this cave."

I nodded, taking a step toward it. It flinched, whole body shaking. "So…" I trailed off. "What's up with the sudden defensive maneuvers? If you're going to attack me, I'd appreciate it if you could get it over with."

I think the spider chuckled. "If I was going to kill you," It told me, "Would I care about what you appreciated?"

"Good point." I muttered. "But if?"

"Shelob and Aragog will hurt me if I kill you. You smell good. They will come even if I do not tell them. But none of you has ever spoken to me before."

"'You?'"

One foot gestured to the floor. It pushed a skull, slightly birdlike, toward me. "Oh?"

"They scream. They plead for help. Or mercy. Shelob says no mercy, so it is done. You did not scream. You did not plead. You only smell a little afraid. But mostly angry. You _hurt _me."

"Perish the thought." I muttered, glancing at all the skulls around me and wondering just how many of them had been capable of feeling fear. "Your sister doesn't sound very nice."

"No. She is not. She is Shelob, answerable only to Aragog. I am Arachne. I answer to everyone. Do you have a sister?"

My eyes flicked to Ella. "Yes."

The voice was matter of fact. "Has she ever tried to eat you?"

If I hadn't been so afraid I would have laughed. I told him "No." But this made the creature flinch away, and I was worried I said the wrong thing.

"So you are the abuser. You think it is okay to threaten those smaller than you."

"Oh, no." I shook my head vigorously, stepping behind the broken chair. Like that would do anything if it charged. I looked up, no ceiling in view. I could fly. "They sent me here because _I'm _abused. They hurt my family, and get angry when I try to stop them."

"The men in white?" It asked. I nodded. This was not the right answer, either, it would seem. "You do not smell like you are lying," It said, "But the men in white are good. They feed you. They do not stay long."

"Can we agree on something?" I questioned. This time, it nodded. "We can agree to disagree?"

I don't know why I felt reassured when it nodded. Maybe because I knew for some reason, I could trust what this creature said to me. It wouldn't lie. I wasn't sure if I knew from what it had told me or just something I _knew_, but this thing wasn't going to kill me, send me to its relatives, or even debate whether or not the whitecoats were bad. I was glad on this front, unsure of how I would ever explain everything to this creature who had probably known nothing other than this room and abusive relatives.

Arachne eyed me a moment longer, wordlessly, then settled to the ground, legs spread out around her. "You come from the white?"

"Excuse me?"

"The white. Not the cave."

The white hall and room. The cave. The only two worlds known.

"I come from beyond the white." I told Arachne. "It's outside. There are no walls or roofs. There is grass and flowers and trees and water and fresh air and wind. No one can tell you what to do there. Where I come from," I cast a glance toward the spider from where I paced against the wall. The clock read 49:56. "If someone abuses me, there are places you can go to hide."

The eyes followed my walking path. I tried not to let this get to me. If I already smelled "good" and "afraid" then it wouldn't take long for Shelob and Aragog to scuttle on over. "I do not know of your grass and flowers and trees and fresh air and wind. I know water and air, which is what you fall through when you jump. Explain these other things."

"But…" You can't just _explain _what grass and flowers are, or what wind ruffling through your hair feels like. You can't explain the sound of leaves rustling in autumn breezes, or the feel of ocean water on your toes. You can't explain freedom. But how had Jeb put it? He had tried, at least. I cleared my throat. "The sky is like the ceiling." I pointed above. "But it is endless. You can fly into the sky. It is blue, blue like…" I ran over to the bars, pointing through at Iggy's shirt. "Like that. And… grass is sort of like hair on the ground, but it is green. Green like that." Ella wore green, if really dirty green. This made Arachne shift. I raised my fists, but then dropped them as I realized it was holding out a leg with blood dripping to the floor. At least, I assumed it was blood because it was a shade of green, but I nodded. "That's green."

"What is so special about walking on green hair and touching blue air? I do not understand your ways. What is your name?"

"Max." I said, figuring that spiders probably much preferred the dark. "Uh, Arachne, right?"

"Arachne is my name." The spider rasped. "I am the youngest daughter of Aragog. Lowest form of the arachnids. It is shameful you should meet me. I am a poor representation of my species."

"That's not true." I said, frowning. "I mean, you've got eight legs. And eight eyes. What's wrong with that?"

"I am small." Arachne contorted the hairs on her face into something like a frown. "Who are you?"

"Max."

"I know that, Max of beyond the white. I asked _who _you are, not what your name is."

Great. She was philosophical, too.

"I'm… just Max." I frowned. "I'm fourteen. I'm supposed to save the world. I'm the leader of my Flock."

"And are you part bird? You smell that it is so."

"Only two percent."

Arachne nodded. "But that is more than nothing, yes? Is that your Flock, in there? Usually no one watches when we feed. Will you introduce me?"

I nodded, watching as Arachne moved a little closer to the window, but toward the edge where it was a little darker.

"That's my mom." I pointed her out. Arachne put one foot on a bar, raising her head to look. The white washed out of her face. I swore she would need a heart transplant after we escaped, and some extreme therapy sessions.

"Has she ever tried to eat you?"

"Where I come from, we don't eat our families."

Arachne shot me a look, muttered, "Strange," then turned back to the others. "And who is that?"

"The Gasman. He's a member of my Flock. That's Angel, in the next cage. Her dog, Total, is on her lap. Then Nudge. That's Iggy, and Ella, who's my sister, but isn't… part bird. Then that's Fang."

"And you are sure you have never attacked each other? Drained the blood from the other's veins?"

"No." I said firmly. "Strictly non-blood diet. Vegetarian. Vegan."

Arachne hopped down. "Strange. What else do you do in beyond the white?"

And this was how I ended up painting a flower on a skull with my own blood-Arachne offered a leg for the stem- for a spider, puzzled through riddles, taught soccer with a skull for a ball, talked about families, all with an enormous arachnid. Beyond the weirdest experience of a lifetime. And probably right up there with the most nerve wracking. But come time when the clock read 10:57, I almost felt bad that Arachne would be left to her merciless family members for her only companions. I kicked the skull towards one of her many feet, our version of soccer, but this time the ball skidded right past her. I froze, pricking my ears as I recognized the expression of panic in her eyes. Far off, I heard a _crunch_, signaling an enormous weight crushing bones of some poor creature.

"Nest Mother Aragog." Breathed Arachne, all eyes focusing on me for a moment. "Farewell, Max, leader of the Flock that comes form the world beyond the white. It is unlikely that I shall ever see you again. I appreciate your words and kindness. I pray that my mother kills you swiftly."

Iggy may or may not have muttered, "Nice friend." From beyond the bars, but I disregarded him. The crunching was much swifter than Arachne's approach, and the first spider had not been kidding when she said that she was tiny. When I finally caught sight of the mother, I peeped. I admit it freely, because she was just as dangerous, just as menacing, just as terrifying as Arachne had been, except three times bigger. I backed up against the wall, completely at a loss to see how I could ever tackle such a monstrous creature. Because I knew she wasn't quite as friendly as Arachne, partly because of how she had been spoken of, and partly because of what I heard her call to her daughter.

"You have kept prey from us, Arachne. Why did you not alert us to such a succulent morsel? Come, Shelob. Her blood is ripe."

_C'mon, Maximum. Think, dammit! This is why you're leader._

More skittering footsteps. Shelob was in a hurry. If she was anything close to her mother's size, I knew I would only have a chance if I could tackle them one at a time. So as soon as I could pinpoint the mother's position, I darted out into the dark, and right into a hairy tree trunk.

But my God it obviously _wasn't _a tree trunk, and I rolled away as the mother shrieked with mirth.

"But Shelob!" She rasped, scuttling over and around me as I tried to dodge underneath her. So much for my brilliant idea of getting used to the darkness then suddenly going into the light and blinding them. "It's eager to die!"

If her body was proportioned the same way as Arachne's, I knew roughly where her head would be, and roughly where her stinger was. I rolled, scattering bones beneath me until I felt she was no longer above me. I unfurled my wings, bunched my legs underneath me, and flew upwards.

"Mother, it can fly."

Now, this may have escaped your notice, but spiders weave webs. Big spiders weave big webs. I couldn't see squat, only suddenly feel sticky webs entangling my feathers and grabbing at my arms.

"Foolish morsel. It would have done better on the ground."

"I can feel it in the web, mother."

"The catch is yours, Shelob."

Heavy vibrations. They were climbing. I thrashed, but this only prompted high hisses I took for laughter, and the quavering of the web intensified.

"Ella!" I yelled, not caring if they heard. They knew where I was anyway. "How did Frodo escape!"

"He had a sword! Max!" She screamed, I assumed one of the spiders had been flashed with the light of the window. Below me, I could see the dull glow, and enormous legs. In front of me, cloudy orbs loomed, scurrying closer and closer. Yards away. I wrenched my shoe from my foot, hacking at one of the threads before whipping it at Shelob. She shrieked, and I took the brief moment to wrench my wings tighter toward my back. The string broke, but something in my wing did, too, and now I was dangling from just one thread above the shape of Aragog. They were stronger, higher, bigger, and at home in this environment. My only advantages were my speed and, if I used it correctly, my size. Maybe, if I shot into them hard enough, I could break something… Spiders didn't have spines, but they sure as hell had some important stuff beneath their doughy flesh. Shelob was there, her fangs raised, raking across my shoulder and snapping the last thread, and then I was falling, and then I was speeding, and then there was pain pain _pain_ and Aragog wailed collapsing, and I was flung to the side. I slammed into a wall, somewhere, and then bounced along the bones until I came to a halt.

Everything in my body ached, from the scrape I felt across my forehead to something digging into the back of my neck to my lungs, which hurt to breathe, down to my very feet. My shins screamed with a recognizable pain. Broken. My wings weren't fairing much better. I scrambled onto my stomach, biting back a moan, and lifted my chest to release one of my wings, pinned beneath me. Where it connected to my shoulder blades burned with pain, each heartbeat like a slap. Shelob's screams confirmed that at least I hadn't butchered myself worthlessly.

Arachne had told me that her species drink the blood of their dead kin in honor of their life. I prayed that this would uphold Shelob long enough for the whitecoats to allow me out without gassing the only people in the world that I cared about. I craned my neck to get a look at the clock above the door. 00:16. My breath caught in my throat as I watched it countdown, then beep at the number zero. Did I honestly think that the whitecoats would get me out? No. They would have cameras trained on me right now, probably laughing and wondering if I could still walk. Did I hope? Yes. Someone once told me strife turns everyone into God's believers. I didn't know if I believed in God at that moment, or any particularly heinous moment in my life, but I did know that if there was an force out there that could help me out, I would have been so grateful.

My rational mind was confirmed when somewhere, loudspeakers crackled.

"You will not be removed from the test until the situation is under control and all acromantulae are peaceful."

Typical. I tried to get to my feet, and was forced down with the crippling pain shooting up from my legs. The acrid smell of decay seemed to cling to my nose as I fell down again, unable to keep from making a pitiful sound of pain this time. Damn the whitecoats. I could never have been able to walk like this, let alone kill a giant, murderous, monster bent on drinking my blood. My neck twinged as I looked up again. Useless, I reminded myself. The clock was useless. But… there was the window. There was mom, holding Gazzy close to her chest. Their eyes were big and wide and scared. Next to them, Angel, Nudge, and that little brown lump must have been Total, lumped together. Iggy and Ella, holding each other as Ella shook with repressed cries. And Fang. Fang, who had always been there for me. Fang, who had flown to Chile and back for us, who had stood up to his living nightmare to defend me, who had suffered countless acts of cruelty in silence for me. I couldn't do this, couldn't give up for the seven people and Scottie dog waiting for me behind the bars.

It was just about the most touching moment of my life, and it gave me the strength to push my arms underneath me, to raise my wings and flap hard so I could rise slowly and ungracefully, somewhat loudly and very painfully, until the immense form of Shelob entered my view. Then I took one glance at my family, and shot like a bullet toward the scrawny part of the spider's body that connected it's immense rear end to the front.

My legs collapsed. My mind went numb with the pain of the broken shins and the sudden collision, of the terrible cry that meant Shelob wouldn't be functioning much longer, of the second slam into what I assumed was another wall. Someone was roaring… or was that just my heartbeat in my ears? But around it I heard the speakers.

"Is the situation secure?"

It took me a moment to realize that they were talking to me. And another few moments before I gathered the breath to speak.

"What the _hell _do you think?"

Then all I was aware of was my own rattled breathing, then something grabbing my arm. Pulling, pushing, prodding. It hurt so, so much, but I couldn't bring up the energy to resist. Eventually, probably for time's sake, one of the EMs must have picked me up. We walked for a while, and the sound of something rolling. We were going back to another room. Then, blinding, blinding light, and more pain as I hit the floor. Shouts. More shouts. Sound of a Taser. Renewed shouting. A kick.

I blinked repeatedly, trying to make sense of the images forming in front of me. Color. Light. But I realized the screams must mean something and I snarled, "Leave them _alone!_"

"Still alive, are you?" Something hissed in my ear. "You look like shit."

"You sound like-"

I was booted in the ribs. Slammed into something else. More yells. Finally, finally, quiet, as a whitecoat regained control of the situation.

"You," He said to one of the Flock. "Stay back."

I heard the screech of metal on metal. The grate inserted into the cage. Then the soft thumps of warped metal was Fang pacing.

Would you call me a coward if I said I was relieved to be back in the cage? Well, not relieved, per say, but definitely glad that I wouldn't be beaten any more today. I would endure it if I had to, if it would anger the whitecoats, but I admit it: I was in pain, and I just wanted it to stop. I was pushed inside the cage. The metal was cold, cool relief on my face. A lock slid in pace. The grate was pulled out, and then strong arms were pulling me back, propping me up against the back of our prison. My eyes flickered open.

Dark eyes. _My _dark eyes.

"Hey, Fang." I croaked, trying to smile. His expression didn't change, urgent, scared. Or maybe that was just his eyes. His face was blank to anyone else.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked. His eyes added a silent "Really."

"Legs." I whispered. "Face. Shoulder. Wing. Ribs."

He whispered something obscene, pulling back the collar of my shirt. "It bit you?" He said louder. "How long ago?"

"When the first one died." I flinched, his light fingers skimming over the wound. "How is it?"

"Looks clean." He muttered. "Shallow. Dr. M… are all spiders venomous?"

"To an extent, yes. Most in America are not potent enough to… seriously injure people, but those spiders were enormous. I don't know what the venom will do." Her voice broke, but I heard her address another doctor. "Excuse me, please, what were those spiders crosses between?"

He replied without hesitation, whether because he cared or knew the information would hardly help, I didn't know. Didn't care, much. Side effect, perhaps? That I wasn't panicking? "They're part _Phidippus audax_. The majority of their spider genes come from them."

"Bold Jumping Spider." Fang murmured. Mom sighed in relief.

"Non-venemous."

So I was just suffering from delirium. Fantastic. The doors shut with their familiar sound. We were alone. I felt Fang's hands carefully probing my neck, checking for anything serious. They moved from their to massage my head, which aside from being knocked around, I thought was fine.

"Move your thumbs." He instructed. I did. "Forefingers." I wiggled them.

"Your brain isn't too messed up, then." He said seriously, though his word choice gave away how relieved he was. It was a trick Jeb taught us (if the arm isn't injured) that if you can easily moved your fingers or toes on cue, your brain is still sending messages. He told us to not rule out aneurisms and bruising, though, which with brains, can be fatal.

"Awesome."

I felt him shift aside me, now softly feeling my legs from the knees down. His breathing stopped.

"Broken tibia. Both legs." He said. "Just _why _did you warp into them?"

"To break them. Believe me, it wasn't-" I winced as he touched the peak of one bone, "A picnic."

He just got down to work, bandaging my shoulder first, still bleeding freely. I was glad my stomach and waist wounds from Arachne were shallow, they had stopped ages ago. He carefully prodded my back where the wings attached, decided they had just been pulled. I felt his soft fingers rearranging the feathers properly, which helped a lot. Then he tenderly wiped my face with a cloth he had wetted with one of the water bottles I had either earned or we were given because they weren't interested in dehydrating us. After, he wiped the grit from my legs and bandaged them as best as he could. The Flock and mom and Ella were supplying a stream of scraps for those, but I could tell he wished he had more. I watched him as he did this, finally taking my hands and washed away the dirt and grime and blood that caked my skin.

I met his eyes, my personal thank-you and a bit more, and he understood, folding down to kneel next to me. I was tempted to cross my arms, chilly, but my bruised ribs protested and I just pushed myself a little further into the corner of my cage.

"Hey, Ells?"

She looked up.

"Thanks."

She rolled her brown eyes. "I didn't do much, just gave you useless information about light and swords and I'm really glad you're okay."

"I kind of liked the first one, actually." Angel murmured aloud, not looking up from Total's fur, which she combed through with her fingers. "Once I got past not understanding her thoughts. They were muddled, different. It hurt my head to get so close."

"Some family." Gazzy yawned, snuggling closer into mom, who looked slightly surprised but glad. "I'm glad you never tried to eat me, Max."

"Even if I was a cannibal," I whispered, "You'd be too toxic to digest."

We laughed a little with Gazzy then, but then he drifted into a much needed sleep, and was closely followed by Nudge, and Angel. Iggy gave me one last smile, then his eyelids flickered shut, head leaning against Ella's. I glanced once more around at everyone, snoozing despite the bright light, and then at mom who nodded to me and smiled, which practically broke my heart because of how guilty I felt that she and Ella were stuck here with us. I half-smiled back, shivered, and then leaned into Fang's hard shoulder, smiling as I felt his wing half extend around me and provide some warmth for my cold body. I looked up into his face one last time before I let adrenaline's best friend exhaustion take me over, rememorizing his golden flecked eyes and the smile they held for me, loving the soft kiss he placed on the crown of my head. I promised myself I'd do that over and anything else to assure that he and the others were free again, and then my eyes fell shut.


	55. What is a Zoo, Really?

**Chapter Fifty-Five:**

** Note: Lamy (AKA Dr. Matsumoto) is Chinese. However, when coming up with his name, I chose a Japanese one. This is incorrect and will be remedied ASAP. For now, just think of him as Lamy or the other Dr. M. Thank you and sorry for in the inconvenience!**

** Furthermore, I apologize for any spelling errors. I wrote this quickly and just want to get it up for you all.**

** Huge thanks to all reviewers, readers, favoriters, anyone who clicked on this, just for showing interest. It is 11:22 PM and I just want to go to sleep after typing up this 20 page chapter throughout the course of yesterday and today, so just know that you all have my gratitude!**

** To the anonymous reviewer Tsktsktsk who wrote: **

Tsktsktsk

2010-10-11 . chapter 54

Why do I doubt that this fanfic is 500 pages? Because when you do the math that means each chapter is around 100 pages long. None of your chapters are this length. Nice try though...

**Your math is slightly incorrect, though I do appreciate you trying to alert me. If each chapter was around 100 pages, I would have a 50,000 page novel. Not even close. If they were all the same length, on page 500, each chapter would be 10 pages. They are not all the same length. Some are less, some are more. So for future guidance I would check your math before reviewing. However, thank you for reading until chapter 54. I know not everyone can/does have an account on fanfiction, but this goes for just about everyone who critiques: it is easier if you do or leave something for the writer to contact you with to thank you/exchange advice/whatever. When people leave anonymous reviews criticizing (not yours, this is just in general) it's even more irritating because it's like they're using someone else's voice to criticize because they don't have the strength to say it to the person's face. This is just my take on it (**again, not you. Someone else left a few reviews like this on some HP fics of mine, and it's not that I can't take critique, it's just that I don't like being able to reply and talk it over, like what they think I could do better, why they don't like it, etc. So that was kinda frustrating**.) Anyway, I'm sorry I'm rambling on to you even if you are reading this. Forgive a sleep-deprived fourteen year old her sins.**

** Later, and seriously. Thank you for reading.**

** -ivyflightislistening**

**On with the next chapter!**

Max shifted uncomfortably in her sleep, wincing even in unconsciousness as her leg moved. My rage at the scientists, barely suppressed, threatened to boil over. The whitecoat in charge had even had children. How could someone have offspring, care for them, give them _Harry Potter_-themed birthday presents, and still think it was okay to throw a fourteen year old into a pit of monsters?

It may seem harsh to call them monsters, when I had been known as similar things, and the first spider may not have been so bad, but I felt anyone, human or creature, bearing the type of attitudes as the mother and sister could be classified as a monster. The same went with serial killers, rapists, Hitler…

A chunk of her dark blonde hair waved with her breath, brushing my arm. Even in sleep, she wasn't at peace. When we were safe, in the woods, at her mom's, Max visibly changed in her sleep. The worry lines around her eyes softened, her mouth parted into an almost-smile, but definitely not a frown. Not so here.

Around us, the sounds of the sleeping Flock and others were the only sounds. Maybe the whitecoats were gearing up for round two, maybe they were busy, but they hadn't come back in the hours since we had been brought to another room. It didn't mean they wouldn't.

I brushed her hair back, content for the moment to try and relax as much as possible. Max was here, in my arms, as safe as you can be when in hell. The others were resting around us, getting ready for our chance, whenever that might come.

"Fang?"

I jumped, and Max shifted slightly in her sleep. It was Dr. M, looking fondly at her daughter. I hadn't seen her speak, thinking her asleep, but it was her voice. I shook my head once. We couldn't talk about anything important with the whitecoats watching our every move, not aloud. I could tell she had something on her mind through her voice, and honestly wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about it.

Angel yawned, and addressed us both. "Fang? Dr. M?" _The mind link still works with direct thoughts. If you want to talk. I won't listen, I'm going to sleep._

"Thank you." Max's mom whispered, nodding to the seven year old. I braced myself, eyeing Angel. She was important to me, that kid, but I wasn't sure if I was being set up for a heart to heart conversation. Because Ang totally _would _do that to me.

_Fang? _Her voice reverberated through my head. _Does this actually work? I feel kind of foolish._

I glanced at her, amused. I could get where that feeling would come from. _Yep. _And waited for her to speak.

One of my favorite things I love about Max is her inability to beat around the bush, she just plows right through it. She will speak what's on her mind, most of the time, and she usually won't spare words for your feelings. I now understood where this came from.

_You love her._

This made me jump again. Max twitched, biting her lip in her sleep as her leg jostled. As gently as I could and trying not to feel her mother's eyes on me, I adjusted her head to a more comfortable position and brushed the hair from her face and behind her ear.

But how to reply to that? I'll admit it, as any guy will. The thought of talking to the maternal figure of the person you love isn't easy, or a pleasurable conversation. I would rather avoid it.

_Don't let the whitecoats hear you say that._ I muttered in my mind, only half-joking.

She smiled wryly, at least, I felt it in her mind, her sort of partial amusement, even though I was looking at Max, you know? Like when someone smiles on the other end of a phone, you can tell.

_I wouldn't do that to you two. It makes me shudder, thinking about what they would do with that information._

_Me, too._

_ I'm sorry about earlier. With that man._

I couldn't help it. I shuddered. She winced, thinking she shouldn't have brought it up.

_No,_ I thought quickly, though I wished she wouldn't think about it. I tried not to. _Don't think that. It's not your fault that he's…_

_ A psycho child abuser who deserves to be struck down by a lightning bolt?_

I was going with sonofabitch, but seeing as who I was talking with, I didn't think that'd be a great idea. I nodded.

_I'm sorry for what you suffered, Fang._ She continued in her soft voice that even when she yelled at us for trashing her house, rang with motherly concern. I almost flinched. I didn't deserve any motherly concern from her. If maybe I had done something different, Max and the rest of them might not even be here. If I had been more persuasive when we were at the desert, but I was trying not to freak people out if they had been normal. Reason #341 why I need to stop trying to act like a normal human being.

_I'm sorry for what you had to go through, what you still go through even when you're free, and for what these people do to you. It's not my fault, exactly, but I want you to know that I feel for you and I pray for you-whatever that will do-and I think you are a wonderful person._

I jumped again.

She smiled warmly. _Yes. You, and everyone in this room. I know the others joke around that you don't talk much or you wear black, just sibling jesting, but I think now would be a good time to tell you that I can't imagine anyone better to love my daughter._

I cringed. _Because we might be dead by morning?_

_ Because it's a nice thing to know. You're brave, you're smart, you're strong, and no matter how much you hide it from everyone else, you really love your family. I'm glad you love her, and she loves you, and I'm glad you can take care of her when she needs it._

_ Don't let her hear you say that._

She laughed internally. _But you of all people know its true. She goes darting off into trouble, and not only do I love having you here for the same reason I like having Ella and the siblings and Iggy and Nudge and Max here, but because I know you'll try and keep her from doing so, and help her out when she does._

Kind of mind blowing. Humbling. Weird to hear. This was definitely not my party. But… I was glad she liked having me there. It was nice, hearing she didn't just want us to watch us fly or tolerate us because she wanted Max to live with her, and I was glad she recognized Max could be too impulsive for anyone's good.

_I'll keep her safe, Dr. M._

_ I know. Even though you shouldn't have to, thank you._

_ Shouldn't _have_ to? _

_ Don't act so surprised. It shouldn't be your job. It should be the government, should be her family, the people who raised her, their job to keep her safe. But they sort of failed at that, and I'm glad you can take care of her._

_ It's not a job. _I brushed her hair back again, eyes appraising her freckles and face.

_ That I know. Any outsider would consider it so, but you know that love isn't a job. Now, you need sleep, and probably don't want to continue this conversation further so I'll depart. But I thought you should know._

I was glad her mind didn't stick around because I had no idea what to say. When I stay quiet, its usually not because of that, but because I find words unnecessary. But I literally had no words to continue that conversation. But, looking down at Max, feeling her warmth, listening to her breathing, even in the awful white room, I sort of understood where Dr. M was coming from. With jobs, you're paid, offered contracts, you quit, sign up, etcetera. I'd promised Max I wouldn't quit on her, and the thought of the one time I did always made me want to scream_. _No one paid me money, but no one had to. I willingly followed Max, to the ends of the earth if I had to. Was that love, really? How even the sight of the person could make your entire being feel alive, how their touch was like a lightning bolt?

The crazy conversation was getting to me. Had to be. Angel smiled in her sleep. I tried to ignore the white lights blaring even through my eyelids, but there was a reason I had always been the one with the most trouble sleeping. Maybe I'm a pessimist, maybe I'm a cynic, maybe I'm paranoid or maybe I'm mentally scarred, but I've never slept well because I accept the truth. I'm screwed up. Max is screwed up. We're all screwed up, waking with our heart racing, drenched in sweat, thanks to our imprisonment. I'm just the only one to accept this, to know that we'll never "get better" and that not all the illegal drugs in the world could make it so. Instead, I contented myself with not having to be on my feet and the sound of Max's breathing so close by.

XXXXXXX

I felt like I had gotten a few minutes of sleep when we were jarred awake by the shouts of whitecoats and the clang of a gun against the metal of our cage. I jumped, literally trying to get to my feet, but obviously, that didn't work out too well. I slid to the ground, biting back a scream of pain as I felt the broken tibias shift. Fang grabbed my arm, then pushed me to the very back of the cage. If I hadn't been feeling like I had been run over with a cement roller, I would have been angry at the position he took in front of me. Nevertheless, I growled his name, and he shifted ever so slightly to the side. But I needn't have worried, since they were grabbing him anyway. Yeah, right. It went like this:

Dr. Ts'ai/Lamy stood in the corner with his arms crossed, frowning as he surveyed the three EMs required to force Fang into some chains in the floor in the center of the room. They locked around his ankles, and the longer pair around his wrists so he could stand up properly. Roux and Ruth looked on with a little more relish, their mouths curved in malevolent smiles as Lamy spoke. Granted, I'll give it to him that he didn't sound very excited with what was going on, rather like he was relaying instructions or assuring a friend that it was perfectly okay that he spilled red wine on the front of his new thousand dollar jacket. That kind of voice.

"Fang." He said. "Dr. Silverman… requested that I ask you this: do you know what cat-o-nine tails are?"

Fang didn't reply, but I had pulled myself to the front of the cage and everyone could see the recognition on his face. Dread, already trickling through my veins like icy water, seemed to freeze my heart.

"Yes." Lamy continued softly. "He thought you might. Know that you will receive fifteen lashes if you do not tell us right now what Maximum has visions about."

"You make it sound so much cooler than it actually is." Iggy joked. "'Having visions' like you're some sort of soothsayer, hmm?"

Ella shot him a look. "How do you know what a soothsayer is?"

"Shut up!" Barked Ruth. "Now, mutant, tell us or it will be ten lashes. They will come slowly. You will be given the chance to tell us what you know after each one."

They waited. In vain.

_Fang. Fang. Fang. _His name chanted over and over again, I was so afraid of what would happen to him. I saw those eyes, those midnight eyes with flecks of gold, squint shut in preparation as an EM pulled the whip out of his bag. I stopped breathing.

"This," it growled. "Is called the cat-o-nine tail, a whip made of nine strings of barbed wire, designed by pirates as one of their most merciful forms of torture. Others included the famous walking the plank drill, and being dragged underneath the ship, covered in barnacles, which ripped at your flesh and often ended up killing you. Anything to say, Fang?"

_Stop? Please? Anything?_

But Fang's eyes flickered open, staring up at the whitecoats through his lashes and his lip twitched into a smile only the grim reaper would wear as he comes to collect the souls of the dying, and even the unchained, free whitecoats took a double take. The equivalent of bring it on. I probably would have killed him if he said "Please" anyway, which was an impossibility. We're all too proud, too strong. But even the first lash, cracking through the air and landing with sickening finality across his back and wings had me cringing. The EM holding the whip had to tug it a few times to untangle it from his shirt and I prayed not his flesh or feathers. His eyes flashed shut, lips tight in the scream held behind his teeth, back bent in pain. But he bore it silently, and nothing irked the scientists more.

"Dark one?" Roux asked. "Do you 'ave anything you wish to tell us?"

He waited, and on came the next lash. If I wasn't so consumed with what Fang was going through for me, I would have noticed the tears streaming down Angel's mucky face, the silent wail coming from Nudge's open mouth, Iggy's cringe every time the whip fell. Ella was holding him so tightly her arms could have fallen off, and she wouldn't have noticed. Mom was just… mom was incredulous. Speechless. Unmoving. In her own mental pain. Roux asked Fang again, if he wanted to talk. He didn't. The next one he stood through. It was the tenth, with five more time to watch the blood smeared whip spatter red across the room with each move, that finally had us cracked.

It was my mother who did, who got to her feet and threw her shoe at the EM with the whip. If he wasn't so surprised, I doubted he would have bothered.

"Are you _barbarians?_" She shrieked at the whitecoats. "Are you ever _human?_ Are you aware that this boy, standing right there, is mostly human, too? He's barely upright, shaking, too proud to admit he's in pain and chained to the floor, while you use a pirate torture technique on him, and you claim this is science? How do you _live _with yourselves?"

The EM stopped, looking at the whitecoats, and the other two EMs who seemed to be torn between letting their masters fix this and jumping in to beat my mother up.

"My dear woman." Ruth rolled over smoothly, standing between her and Fang. Mom spat, moving away from him and closer to Fang in the middle of us all. She didn't even wait for him to finish.

"Don't you _dare _pull that utter crap with me! You value my life no more than you value that boy's, standing over there! Aren't you human? Didn't you have mothers who nurtured you when you were young, fathers that taught you to play baseball? Parents who paid for medical school? Neighborhood kids who you played house with? How do you come from that to this, abusing children? Where has your heart gone? Look at him-_NO! _-really look at him, you sick bastard! Do you have children, see kids on the way to work each morning? The boy standing right there is fourteen. He'd be in ninth grade, a freshman, learning about genetics in science and maybe going to a skateboard after class if he didn't head off into the woods with a guitar or something!

"You want to know something about these kids, Doctors? The one you have chained in the center of the room? He'd be the kid with the guitar. He doesn't associate with a lot of other people-no guesses why, after seeing where he was raised-he only has his family. That's all any of them have! But if you look closely, _shut the hell up before I march over there and rip your head off with my bare hands, Doctor!_ If you look, you can see who they might have been if you hadn't kept them from having nice homes, and you can see who they are even though you have.

"Fang loves music. They all do. He also likes peanut butter cookies. Homemade are best, he told me onetime, but packaged will do. Obviously, these kids can't be picky if you're chasing them all the time. Know what else? You don't listen to him when he talks, don't even allow him to do so, but you'd be pleasantly surprised about his views on life if you bothered to notice! But no, why notice? Why notice, when even though they have favorite movies and books and cookie flavors and play capture the flag in the yard and throw water balloons and get into arguments and tease each other _just like every other kid in the world_, why notice because they have bird DNA, too? You _disgust _me."

"Excuse me," Ruth continued, still smiling even though the rest of us had been completely blown away, "But why would we care if he likes peanut butter cookies?"

"Because he's human, too!" Mom yelled, and never have I felt more proud. "They all are, whether or not they can fly! They are _children_ that you are treating like the foulest of terrorists. Max? The girl you released into a giant pen with man-eating spiders? She's the same age, so is the boy over there that you _blinded._ All three would be in ninth grade. They all have personalities, senses of humor, opinions, ideas, and a desire to have fun and be free like any other kid their age! And you stand there, casually watching as he's whipped. Nudge-you know who I'm talking about-likes fashion magazines like _Seventeen _and _TeenVogue_ and Arabo-pop music by Shereen. She likes playing soccer in the park. And yet you claim she isn't human?"

It was, by far, the most surprising thing I had ever heard anybody say. Nobody had ever stood up and argues with the whitecoats with things like this when we were tested, nobody aside from us six, and that had just been shouts. It hadn't even occurred to me that my mother would do something like this. It was… unexpected. Touching. Nice. Extraordinarily dangerous for her.

Ruth was about the speak, but Lamy interrupted.

"Dr. Ruth," He addressed his colleague. "Leave it be. Please escort Dr. Roux to our next station, the brainchild? Get started without me, I'll finish here."

Dumbfounded, they left, and he waved the two other EMs after them. When the door shut behind the quartet, he walked up to Fang, breathing heavily and eyelids fluttering in an effort to keep focused on the man in front of him.

"I'm not going to insult you and call you by your name. You wouldn't like it if I did, seeing how much you detest me and my kind. Nor will I call you "Dark One," I can tell how much that irritates you, or by your number code. But I respect you. Avian experiment or not, I think you have more spirit then half the men who work here." Lamy paused, clearly waiting for acknowledgement of his words, and continued when nothing came from Fang. "So I am truly sorry that the entire punishment has to be carried out. I know you aren't going to say anything, it will be quick."

I guess he had given up on Fang, turning away before even waiting for him to speak. But Fang gathered his strength, tensing his muscles to stand straight and tall and proud and said, "I don't want your pity."

Lamy smiled sadly, rubbing his glasses absentmindedly with the lab coat that hung oddly on his scrawny frame. "Pride in excess can often be a weakness. I'd be careful of that, if I were you. I don't pity you. I admire you."

"Why?"

"Because you do what you want, regardless of whether anyone doesn't want you to. Regardless of whether or not you have the money, the time, or the blood to spare. You might feel weak after this… punishment. That's why."

And he retreated again to the corner, watched the EM carry out the last five lashes and push Fang back into our cage, then they hurriedly left the room. He had fallen to his knees when he landed, fell to the side and slammed into the side of the cage. Gingerly, avoiding putting any pressure on his bleeding back, I helped him to sit down.

"Can you unfold your wings?" I asked quietly. They would have taken the most of the beating, except for the lashes that hit his shoulders and below his neck. It was a stupid question. Fang didn't go by "can you?" he did what he wanted to. If this included unfolding his wings to show that he wasn't _that _weak, he would. But it was a strangled process, opening up in jerky, twisted movements as he tried not to strain the injured muscles. Feathers, loosened by the whip but held in place by the shirt, fluttered to the ground, their bases bloody. We still had a half-full water bottle in our cage, and Nudge had one in hers, which she began to pass our way. While that traveled, I took the hem of my jeans (already at about shin length, due to our previous ripping for bandages) and slowly leaned forward to grab the material with my teeth. Now they were up to my knees. Still breathing harshly as my ribs and collarbone moved, I wetted the rag and shifted as fast as possible to his wing tips. This was still a snail like speed, but I wasn't sure if Fang was aware that I was even mobile until he shifted a little to help me out. He was sitting in the middle of our relatively big cage, his wings unfolded but bent in a V shape so they would fit. I could hear his breathing.

I brushed the very tip of his wing, not too badly damaged, and quickly began to realign the feathers. I moved down the wing, painfully slow, fixing feathers, removing loose ones hanging on my sticky blood, and carefully wiping at the deep, ragged lines that the barbed wire had left behind. Underneath my fingers, I could feel his muscles tightening and shrieking in pain whenever I even got near the wounds, but Fang himself was unchanging. There were no actual yells, and eventually he shifted to sit cross legged.

"Fool." I muttered, shaking my head as I finished the first wing and moved to his back. I didn't even have to lift it up or anything, so shredded as it was between the initial cuts for the wings and the lasting impression of barbed wire. These were even harder to look at, the long rips in his skin, beading blood and trailing down his back, pink with the crimson residue and swelling around the wounds.

I wasn't even expecting a reply, so appalled as I was at these injuries. Like, I had seen worse, from bombs. But why would anyone, even a pirate, come up with such a torture weapon? It's things like that-alongside bombs, guns, modern torture techniques-that make me with I didn't have that 98% in me.

"What would you have me do?" He asked, a mere whisper for my ears alone, but still full of challenge. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to hit him even as I dabbed at the wounds and pushed aside the fabric.

"_Schnapp_." I told him. It was actually a name of a cookie company, which was where our code word for _lie _had come from. Gaz had joked that you would hardly tell someone if you had extra cookies.

"That would work well."

_"Better than the pair of us being out of commission!" _I whispered.

"Maybe." He said, after attempting and giving up at shrugging.

"_Maybe?_ Fang…" I broke off, unwilling to say anything that could be caught by sensitive Flock ears, or even worse, whitecoats. He understood this much, at least. My mouth was close enough to his ear so I could whisper low enough to avoid Iggy and maybe Total, and perhaps his hair would disguise and lip movements to the whitecoats undoubtedly watching us on screens. "How the hell can I lead like this? And now how can you?"

His fingers drummed across the floor. Feigned boredom, or what he could do, if he couldn't shrug. I moved to his other shoulder. "How do we escape like this?"

Some people feel the need to think out an elaborate plan or answer reassuring lies when asked questions like "How do we escape like this?" in situations like ours. Fang simply twisted his head slightly so he could see me out of the corner of his eye and said, "We will."

I didn't bother arguing anymore, asking how he could be so assured or anything like that. Essentially, I knew how. Both Fang and I would die ten times over to be sure that the others never had to go back to living at the school (is living even the appropriate term?) and we would go to the ends of the earth to be sure we escaped. In reality: We were caged, and therefore could not go to the ends of the earth, and we could only die once. As far as I know, I don't know squat about reincarnation or anything like that. But still, you catch my drift. Fang was just saying that it would be a little harder given our current physical health. That little prick.

"Thanks. And everything." I muttered, moving on to the next wing and going through the procedure: wash blood away, realign feathers, apply some Neosporin mother had found in her pocket, like a little packet she said that doctors gave out at conventions. Ella had grinned and advised her to tell what they gave out at birth control conventions, but Mom had shot her The Death Glare and she just dissolved into giggles.

"Don't mention it. And everything."

"Shut up."

"You want me to say _more _one second, then you tell me to shut up." He snorted theatrically. "I just can't catch a break."

"Women." Total scoffed.

I rolled my eyes, and while I continued to work on Fang's wings, I had Angel set up a mind link. Once constructed, all of us feigning some twitch or little thing to deter the scientists, I caught there attention.

_What say you about a jail break?_

XXXXXXX

"_Nihao, Baba!"_

"Good afternoon, Lixue. How was school?"

"Oh, Baba, so much fun! Meiling and I did a presentation on panda bears. Cheng's was also really good, he had the cheetah with Da-Xia. We all have zoo animals so we can be educated about the animals even before we go to the zoo this Friday! I'm very excited."

"Well, that certainly sounds fun, Lixue. How is Meiling doing?"

Doctor Ts'ai's daughter's voice faded a little, a slightly melancholic tone that tugged at his heart and made him despise this deployment in America even more. America had plenty of wonderful sights and advantages-but his home was where he wanted to be. "She is okay. Her father still needs to find his job. I asked her how he could lose something like a job-because it's hard to misplace your job, I think. She told me that he's been looking all the places he's been recently, they even emptied the apartment to see if it was under the bed, or something. But then it was too much trouble to move everything back in, I guess, so they moved to a smaller apartment on another road."

The man tried not to smile at his daughter's words. He worried for his old friend, whose daughter was just as kind to Lixue as he had been to Dr. Ts'ai when they first met. The economy was difficult everywhere, it would seem.

"That's too bad. I hope he finds it soon. But tell me more about the zoo? It sounds very interesting."

"Oh, yes, Baba, I'm so excited! Meiling and I even get to be buddies when we go to the zoo, since we did our project together. We're all in pairs so we always are with someone, so we don't get lost. That's what _lao shi_ said."

"Your teacher is a very wise woman." He smiled.

"Uh huh!" She agreed enthusiastically. "She is very nice. At the zoo, we get to talk to one of the veterinarians for the animals. _Lao shi _has an old friend who works there, who helped arrange this, she said."

"What a good friend."

"Yes. Baba… if Meiling has to move again, to find her father's job, can she just move here? I mean, our home. Not you're here, since you're not _here _here, but to our apartment? Do you think so? It's hard for her to do her schoolwork when she has to move."

"I would have to ask your Mama, Lixue. Space is very limited, you know. But we will do what we can, I promise."

"Yes, Baba. When are you coming back home? Dewei is graduating from grade six soon. There is a whole ceremony. And the cherry tree on the balcony is blooming."

"As soon as I can, Lixue. Where is your brother?"

"Piano practice. He is playing a beautiful piece by Yiruma, and one by Beethoven."

"Naturally. Is Mama there?"

"Yes. She is speaking with Madam Fenfang from next door, but she is just leaving."

"Give her my regards, Lixue."

"Yes, Baba. Here's Mama."

"Love you, Lixue. Hug your brother for me."

"Yes, Baba."

"Syaoran!"

"_Nihao_, Howin. How are you?"

"Fine, fine. Lixue has been bothering me all day to make some peanut butter cookies-her favorites, as you know-but peanut butter isn't exactly cheap and I was trying to talk with Fenfang. But you know her. I was so relieved when she headed out to the park to play ball with Eu-meh and the other girls. This is trivial, though. You shall be home soon. Tell me about America."

He hesitated. "Oh, it's a nice country. I don't get out much, though. We work very often."

"We?"

"My two… coworkers. Doctors Emilie Roux and Cunningham Ruth."

He heard her laugh, and between that and his daughter's voice, the cost of this call was definitely worth it. "You do not seem pleased to be reminded of their existence, Syaoran."

"I…" He tried not to laugh at his wife's typical keenness and her ability to discern just what he thought of the pair. "They are heartless, Howin. I do not like them in the least, though my opinion is of no matter. We are associates, for the next few months, and that is that."

"Just because you work with them doesn't mean you can't have an opinion." She said frankly. "It just means you have to be careful when expressing it."

He laughed. "I miss you, Howin. And Dewei and Lixue, too. I am glad we have enough girls in the neighborhood for her to play with."

"You did not need to go on this business trip, Syaoran. If you miss us so much, come home."

"I do miss you. But I also love you, and with that comes the need to support my family. Americans pay well."

She scoffed. "We do not need the American money. We need you _home._"

"I will be. Soon."

He heard her smile through the phone. "I know. Go to an American zoo for Lixue-she's dying to hear about them. Listen to American composers for Dewei."

"And for you?"

"Eat a peanut butter cookie. And give some to those coworkers of yours, they probably just don't smile enough. Maybe eat quite a few. Something deeper than your partners is bothering you."

He debated denying it. For only about a millisecond. "It's just… we have delicate experiments. To let them go wrong is hazardous."

"Nice try."

"You know how we have set punishments for the kids, Howin?"

"Obviously."

"We have them here, as well. For some… animals. Observational studies. That sort of thing. But I feel as if my orders have overstepped those set punishments. I don't know what to do anymore."

His wife didn't reply immediately, mulling it over. He almost wanted to just say goodbye and get on with the day that had progressed far past worse when she did speak.

"I know it is secretive, what you study. But just think of what Lixue would say if she saw the punishments. Let that guide you, if nothing else. You are a good man, Syaoran. You will do what is right."

Hanging up the corded phone moments later, the Doctor's smile broke as he felt the phone in his pocket buzz. The scientists. _Fight time. Bring a notebook. Sector Seven._

No need to visit a zoo, he decided. He was already there. Cages and everything.

XXXXXXX

Our cages were pressed against the walls of the sandy arena, and Fang was retying his sneakers in the center. When he had finished, he tried not to limp as he circled, getting a view of everything and keeping an eye on our cages at the same time. The Flock and I were in a panic. We recognized these to-the-death rings, and Fang certainly did, as well. Those one-way mirrors that the whitecoats were probably looking through, sipping cappuccinos, completely aware of when whatever Fang was facing would appear in the room. They tried to keep you on your toes, there were five different entry doors, trap doors in the ground, and aerial drops to bring the second opponent through. There was a clock above the one-way, set to 60:00. It would count down as soon as the opponent came in.

This one happened to enter through a door. Some were slow. Some were easy kills. This one had been briefed, and was obviously ready. So was Fang, even if I did cringe at the sound of racing paws and an unearthly shriek that emancipated from this creature. He leapt into the air, injured wings beating as hard as he was able, but so did this creature. It didn't have wings, but it was catlike and could jump relatively high. It's claws latched around Fang's foot-who would have been miles away if it hadn't been for the cuts from Mr. Freaking Barbed Wire-and dragged him to the ground. They both tumbled to the ground, rolling in a screaming, writhing mess of fur and claws and feathers, and then Fang was standing in a ready to hit something into tomorrow stance, and the creature was circling around him.

It was relatively human-like, with human arms and shoulders, but I noticed that though it's legs also looked similar to mine or Ella's or Oprah Winfrey's, it still shifted into a feline crouch easily and walked on four legs as seamlessly as a real cat. It wore no shoes or socks, showing very small human feet with, were those pads on the bottom and claws digging up the sand? I've heard cats don't unsheathe their claws until they actually sink them into their prey, but maybe it was about to try. A tail flicked out of a hole in a pair of tattered jean shorts, a baggy white shirt that Fang had already torn the bottom of… but it was the skin that was most distinctive. Only the tail and a pair of ears were furred, the yellow of a leopard with black splotches that continued onto it's pale, pale skin. It had messy ponytail that could only give the advantage to Fang if he yanked it or it blinded the creature, which was no determination here if male or female. Whitecoats only gave haircuts when it grew long enough to strangle yourself with. I couldn't see it's face, but figured it wouldn't have a problem with munching into something that was part bird.

It jumped him again, but Fang, with practiced ease, brushed it's outstretched arms to the side and pushed it a good ten feet away. The cat-person rolled, and suddenly was on it's two back feet, standing at about four feet tall, and it's tail flicking in suppressed humor. It _mrrow_ed with laughter.

"That's the best you got?" It hissed. "Try this!"

I don't know how many of you grew up in science labs where you were exposed daily to facts about different types of animals. For those of you that didn't, leopards are infamous for what is known as a Leopard Scream. It is an utterly bone chilling, well, scream, that I think would be more appropriate to a banshee or something. It scares the crap outta me everytime. Fang didn't even flinch, though Iggy and Total were cursing.

Well, anyway, it leaned forward and started to snarl, sort of a blood-curdling rumble from the back of the throat, which then progressed to the scream. It was kinda freaky. Especially coming from someone I would have classified as an Oompa-Loompa by the height. It then lunged at Fang again, who rolled to the side and was up on his feet in even less time. The cat thing went skidding past, but not before hooking a claw across his cheek.

"I can hear your heartbeat." It hissed again, but chuckled. "It stutters every time I yell. What? You don't like feeling like a cornered rabbit?

This time when it emerged from their scuffle, it's face was red and one eye was swollen shut. It spat out a mouthful or sand, then began to circle a still-standing Fang again. It was only a few feet away from him. Tauntingly, the tail whipped out and batted at Fang's wing. I don't know if he was just on edge or if it was instinctive, but one wing lashed back and knocked into the thing's back. It staggered onto four legs again, but something had come into it's eyes. I could see them slightly through the mess of hair, most of the ponytail had fallen out-huge and wide and… astonished? It scrambled back, completely taken off guard, and eyed him in new light. Fang didn't relax, still watching it with wings ready to flee and fists ready to fight.

They stared at each other for seconds, minutes, maybe hours, I couldn't even tell. And then suddenly Fang breathed something too quiet for me to hear, and the creature laughed with real joy and jumped forward.

"No!" Total barked, but it was needless. It was hugging him, tiny scarred arms wrapped around his neck and bare feet locking around his torso. It must have been so, Fang didn't even show that he was holding anything, though he did wince when the arms brushed his injured back. But it held him at arms length, looking into his eyes with it's head tilted at an angle. Thinking. They didn't say anything for a moment and then it laughed again.

"My God it _is _you!" And though the cat creature was the one being supported by Fang's standing person, it managed to pull him closer to it. "I knew it as soon as I saw those wings, but I didn't think! God, I can't believe it. And that was what you were always telling me, wasn't it? 'Use your head, Stripes, before you say something you regret!' You idiot!" But she was laughing, laughing and crying and maybe purring and Fang didn't say anything, but he did hug her back, hard enough that she dropped her legs because they weren't necessary to hold her up. And Iggy had staggered to his feet and thrown himself and the bars of his cage and I was grinning and grinning and grinning because I recognized that voice now, those body markings, that tail.

"Fang! You've grown so much, no wonder I didn't recognize you. Last time I saw you, you were smaller than me! And your wings, what marvelous wings, you must be so glad to have them. Though they're bloody-whitecoats, am I correct?"

Fang nodded, still smiling. He disentangled our old friend from his shoulders, which took some effort, I might add, she was very excited, and put her on the ground. No longer clawed hands brushed the hair back from her face, twisted in a grimace.

"Sorry. Got your back, too?"

He nodded again. She rolled her large, almond shaped eyes. "Can't rake the ears without cutting hair."

"Sorry?"

She laughed. "I made it up. For my kittens. "You can't rake-an attack technique, pull your claws across something-someone's ears without cutting their hair, too. You can't whip your back without injuring your wings. You know?"

"You have kittens?"

This made her laugh again, rush up and hug his stiff form, then fall back in a cross-legged position.

"Not _my _kittens. I just say that. They're young little suckers I have to look after. I consider them mine, like my little sisters and brothers or something. Most cross breeds can't reproduce."

"Right."

"Besides." She shrugged, but then grinned mischievously. "It's not like there are any attractive males around here, anyway. They all wear lab coats and glasses."

This provoked a laugh from Fang. "C'mere. You probably remember Max and Iggy…?"

Well, I remembered her all right. I know Iggy did, but she had been in prison longer than we had. Who knew what had tampered with her brain? A darker thought: who knew if she was pretending, if this was set up by the whitecoats, if she was just trying to get Fang to relax so she could kill him faster. But the second she darted forward, slamming into my cage and reaching her scrawny arms through to pull me close, I doubted the had been.

I won't say I had missed her every day. I won't say she haunted my nightmares, her face asking why we had left without her. But feeling her arms jostle all the broken bones in my body, I felt a sort of completeness, like how could I ever forget her now? This cat creature who had a voice that was sometimes hard to understand when she talked too quickly, whose eyes were a nice brown with almond shaped pupils, who had cheered me up when I had been beaten down by Erasers, who had teased Fang mercilessly and shown Iggy how to light a match.

"Ooh, sorry, Max." She backed away quickly, on all four feet, as she caught sight of my crumpled body. I tried not to let it show that her hug felt like it had rebroken all my ribs but that I was so, so glad to see her smile, to hear her throaty purr. For Iggy, she practically mushed her head through the bars of his cage, then angled her shoulders, and somehow she was inside. Mom had told me once that cats could fit in any space that they could fit their heads (unless they were morbidly obese) and I guess this was proof. She lunged at Iggy and hugged him so tightly that he started coughing. But he smiled and put his hand to her face, probably feeling her whiskers and tiny, upturned nose, the spaces for her big eyes and her ears. She frowned. He froze.

"Sorry." He muttered, taking his hand off. "They-I'm blind. But you feel like you've grown. A little. Shrimp."

Her purr just escalated, and she licked his cheek, and then turned to Ella, watching the exchange with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Hello! I'm Stripes. Who are you?"

Thus we went through the explaining of who Ella, Total, and my mother were, since she could tell that they weren't avian, but when she wiggled back out of the cage and prowled over to Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, she turned to me.

"Your theoretical kittens?" She asked.

I smiled. "My Flock. Nudge, The Gasman, and Angel."

"They're bigger than I am." She grinned, then got to her feet and whisked over to Fang.

"C'mon, Darkie."

"I forgot that she called him that." Iggy reminisced. "The only one who got away without being clobbered." But Fang waved Stripes away, smiling slightly, and came over our way. Experience told us that if he came within five feet of our cages, he would be shot where he stood, so he was sure to sit in the sand a good distance away. He moved gingerly, I noticed, wings held carefully to try and not strain the muscles.

"So," Stripes got right down to business, as per usual. "First of all: congratulations! First experiments to escape in the history of _forever!"_

"We had outside help." I muttered but again, she waved her paw at this.

"Details, details. Ever since you six escaped the first time, they don't let any experiments outside. Bastards. Not that many of us had seen the outside beforehand, but still, you know? Not your fault, so don't go blaming yourself like you used to, Max. Be proud! Best day of my life was when I heard those sirens go off and the intercom warning everyone."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again, speechless. Stripes just laughed around her purr and licked at her slightly bloody fingers.

"_No more consorting with the caged prisoners!"_ Came a voice over the loudspeakers. I didn't recognize it. Stripes did, for she was immediately on her feet, tail lashing, and practically spitting in fury.

"I'll stop consorting when you stop abusing, you crazed bastard!" She yelled, then followed with a large snarl, seeming like it must have come from anywhere but the four foot girl-cat cross in front of me.

"_No one inside the arena is giving the orders, mutant. Leave everyone but the free one alone. Kill the other."_

"You dare use the word free, when we are just as much prisoners as they are?" Stripes gestured wildly to us, glaring in the direction of the mirror, with her whitecoat undoubtedly sitting behind it. "You sicken me."

_"I will sicken you if you do not obey."_

"I'd like to see you try, you on your little pigeon legs! I could eat you in less time than it takes for you to give your next threat." She turned to the rest of us, winking. "No offense. But your not part pigeon. I love pigeons."

_"I have my ways. Do you recognize this voice?"_ The man threatened, making me even angrier on Stripes's behalf as something was held up to the microphone and a tiny voice quavered over the loudspeaker. One of Stripes supposed kittens, I'd guess.

"_Don't listen to him, Stripes!"_

He sounded a little like the Gasman. Stripes lashed her tail, glanced pleadingly at me and then Iggy, then nudged Fang with her head.

"C'mon, Darkie. Staring contest."

Five minutes later, with Fang's eyes watering and Stripes grinning even through her anxiety, he muttered, "Damn." And blinked furiously. She chuckled tightly, and glanced toward the mirror.

"How many kittens do you have?" Fang asked quietly, running his hands in the sand they both lay in, at the very center of the arena.

"Two." Said Stripes just as softly. "Mira and Lark. Mira is… about seven? Eight? Lark is a year older. However old that is. She's a lioness. Lark is part snow leopard. He has a great tail, and his eyes are so pretty… like mercury in his irises. Mira's and mine are both just brown. So I'm told."

"Brown's a nice color." Said Fang supportively, but I saw him flick a glance toward me with a smirk in his eyes and I blushed.

"Yeah. Whatever. Mira is so funny though. She doesn't think it's fair that only male lions have manes. She wants one so bad that she spends hours grooming her human hair and fluffing it around. She also will tell you any chance you give her that female lions are the ones who do all the hunting and leading and running. They're the Queens of the Wild, or so she says. Have you ever seen a real lion? In the Wild?"

Fang shook his head. "Not in the Wild."

"There are _domestic _lions?" Stripes was aghast, catching on that he had seen one, but not in their natural habitat. "Poor Mira. She'd be disgraced."

Again, Fang shook his head. "They're in zoos. Places with wild animals in cages so people can look at 'em."

"There are lions in Schools?" Stripes asked, even more melancholic.

"They're not tested on." Fang reassured her softly. "But they're not… free. There are some that are."

"Good. Mira would have had a fit. Are there free jaguars? Free snow leopards?"

He nodded. And didn't tell her that they were seriously endangered species. That could come later. But this at least managed to calm our old friend, enough so that she swatted Fang over the head.

"Haven't changed much, have you? Tell me about the Wild. And the outside. It's not all Wild, right?"

Fang shook his head. "There are lots of buildings in places called cities. Lots of humans live there. Definitely no Wild. But then they fade to towns, with less amounts and where some of nature still manages to thrive… but it's way outside that's the best. The sky is the only roof, and you can fly, well, walk in your case, forever and never see another human. It's just… amazing."

Stripes frowned, rolling onto her back and looking up at the high domed ceiling. "What is a sky roof?"

"Imagine that there is no cement and plaster above us. That air just stretches on and on and on. We fly through the sky sometimes. Usually, it's blue. Sometimes it's grey, when it's stormy and cloudy. At sunrise, the sun turns it red and orange, and the same at sunset, with purples and pinks and all kinds of colors."

I smiled at Fang's description, caught up in explaining to Stripes just what made up so much of our life. I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on his voice and nothing else.

"What is a storm? And cloud? And the sun? I've heard of them, but do not know what they mean."

"The sun is a great ball of fire, high, high in the sky. You can't fly to it without a spaceship, which is a vehicle that can travel higher than anything on earth into the sky. It rises in the morning, which lights up the earth, and then sinks at night, when the stars and moon come out. The sky turns dark, like purples and blacks and blues, and stars, planets and the moon peek out."

"What does the sun light up?"

"Well, earth. Everything. The flowers, the ocean, the grass…"

And Fang was left explaining everything ever so patiently to Stripes, who listened without interrupting, to try to glean something out of what he said. And then he drew pictures for her in the sand, and I tried not to cry with how touching the entire scene was-and how much I wished every single one of us was in the Wild that Stripes so adored.

When the EMs came to collect her, she clutched at Fang for a moment, pulling him so close I knew his back must have been killing him, and then she sliced the hand of the EM trying to grab her and darted to Iggy, whose hand she grabbed and licked quickly. And then she sank her teeth into the EM that Fang wasn't keeping busy, and darted to me. I grabbed her paws, felt her claws out in her panic, and her hot breath on my cheek as she leaned in.

"Max. Good luck. I remember when we first met. I know now what it means to take care of others. Please. I ask this for Mira and Lark's sake. Escape. Run and save your family. Bring them to the Wild where they are safe, but if you can, bring-" the EM grabbed her, a tranquilizer gun in hand. "Us-" She clawed at him. "To!"

"Stripes!" I whispered, trying not to let her slip out of my weak, weak grip. And I was confronted with the hardest type of promise. The promise that you have to keep, on the pain of losing every shred of humanity you have, but one that can be the hardest to do so. I did anyway. "Stripes!" I yelled. "I promise!"

And I think, just maybe, that her eyes were glowing with hope before they fell shut in a drug induced sleep.

XXXXXXX

**LEOPARD SCREAMS AND OTHER AWESOME CAT NOISES THAT STRIPES MAY HAVE USED:**

**Http **semi colon **slash slash **three Ws **dot **soundboard** dot **com/sb/leopard_audio_sounds** dot **aspx

**Stripes's initial scream: #10**

**Other cool ones: #s 11, 15, 17, 19**

**Though the sad thing is that some of them sound like they were in an enclosure when their sounds were recorded, because some others are slightly echoey. **

**On another note:**

**I hope I didn't insult the Chinese culture with the doctor's POV. I said it at the beginning of the chapter, but I'll say it again. Initially, Dr. Matsumoto was Japanese, so Matsumoto is Japanese. I couldn't find the chapter where I said his real name, so if you readers could help me out with that, appreciation towards you! He is now:**

**Dr. Syaoran Ts'ai**

**Is wife is Howin Ts'ai and son is Dewei, daughter is Lixue. They live in China, in a city, presumably. He has two kids despite the One Child Policy because he is rich and we studied the policy in World Cultures and sometimes, if you pay a sum, you can have a second child. Plus, I liked the idea of two kids. They sort of keep Lamy grounded; make him realize the abuse of the school. Again, apologies if any of this is inaccurate towards actual Chinese culture.**


	56. Bloody but Unbowed

**Chapter Fifty-Five-Twenty one pages!**

** Hey everyone, apologies for the practical hiatus. However, to make up for it, I did not end in a huge cliffhanger like I almost did, instead combining the beginning of the next chapter so you weren't totally blown out of the water (foreshadowing!) I just want to let you all know that when I have writers block, your reviews help so, so much. Give yourselves pats on the back.**

** To my adored reviewers: Major thanks!**

** Turtlelover-I always appreciate your reviews, and I'm so pleased that you like the story so much. Thanks for being awesome.**

** I'm glad you liked the chapter, Texas-Angel, a lot of ideas I've had for ages are finally coming through in these few chapters. **

** Goddess of the Flock-you love Stripes? I'll let her know :D Thanks so much for your consistent reviews!**

** Yreva-given that you asked me to review quickly in November, 2010, major apologies, but thanks so much for your review and compliments. Enjoy!**

** Serein Q-Stripes and her kittens will certainly make a reappearance. I love seeing your reviews practically every chapter-thank you so, so much.**

** Check ur mathz-uh, I'm not even going to offer a response. Sorry. Each chapter is about ten pages. Making the document about 550 pgs as I said in the beginning. Thanks for your review and interest anyway.**

** Ju5t An0th34 H3d63h06 and Sparky-hope you didn't get kicked out of the library, and thanks so much for the review. Though, the scientist (Lamy) isn't Mei's dad, they're both Chinese, though. Just for clarification **

** UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND-yeah, Lamy certainly has a role. "You killed Kenny!"**

** Adonai, oh, Adonai. Um, can I just say thank you? Like, seriously? I'm glad you pointed out where the story dragged (20-30, and you may be glad to hear sometime when I have time I'm going through from the beginning and doing some major editing). Thanks for telling what you liked, what I did wrong, ack! Your review was just great.**

** BoOkCrAzY20-thanks! I'm glad you liked Stripes.**

** Faxeggyluv3-you enjoyed? I'm glad. Thanks for the review.**

** Anonymous/nameless reviewer, thanks anyway, and I'm glad you took the time.**

** Mello-I'm glad you appreciate my efforts on Dr. Ts'ai/Lamy and everything else. Thank you so much, and it's no trouble that you don't have an account. I didn't for ages, either. **

** BigReader23-I'm glad you liked it :D**

** IwriteUread-Phew! Yeah, I really worked on that chapter, and I'm so glad you liked it. Thanks for the comments, and your second review about "check ur mathz" and "TskTskTsk". It made me laugh, and I really appreciate it.**

** So, everyone, um, you rock? Can I say anything else? **

** Well, I have another OC this chapter. Hope you like it (23 pages, including author's note!)**

It had been officially _too long _since I had last eaten or drank anything.

Weird thing? I was starved, but sick at the thought of eating. But I would've killed for some water. My throat, my lungs felt… dead. Or, nearly there. They hurt too much to be dead. Was it bad to hear things rattling in your lungs? Perhaps there were little beavers inside me, gnawing away at my flesh and constructing a lung dam. Okay, weird analogy, but it certainly felt like they had already killed part of my breathing organs, at least. Shallow breaths and tiny sentences were all I could form, and with Fang sitting this close all the time, it did not go unnoticed. I would have killed him for a glass of water, if I had the energy. This was not the case. Ergo, I did not protest very much when I was separated from Fang and escorted to another room. There were no chains on the wall, no extra cages outside of the actual room, which was a cage in itself. But I wasn't alone.

My companion was the girl from the pool, and she was shooting arrows at targets that ranged from ten to fifty feet away, and some were floor level, and some were fifty feet up. She was hitting every one right on target. The slightly eerie thing was that they were all human shaped, with little circles indicating the areas with the heart, lungs, and kidney. All kill shots, if you hit a person there.

"Ah, Legolas. Pleased to make your acquaintance." I muttered, somewhat irritated at how gaspy my voice sounded. Why the _hell _weren't my lungs working properly? "Although, I must say, you don't look quite as much like Orlando as the movie portrayed."

The girl jumped as if electrocuted, the arrow she let fly hitting the wall, twenty feet off target. In an instant, another arrow was notched in the bow and it was pointed straight at me. Once she realized she wasn't looking at a whitecoat, she lowered the bow with about a hundred "Sorry!"s. I waved a hand half-heartedly, then sank to the floor, leaning my back against a wall. It was slightly more comfortable if I curved my back a little. More air. Had they gassed me in my sleep? God, my lungs hurt. I tried to disregard this, taking a look around the room for cameras or anything else, but it was just the girl, setting aside her bow and quiver of arrows and coming to kneel in front of me. She wasn't looking too good, her white uniform rumpled and dirty, but relatively free of bloodstains. Good for her. But her face was ashen, and the large circles under her eyes made me wonder how she had managed to concentrate on the targets.

"Hi, Max." She said quietly, settling to the floor. "I, uh, sorry about back there."

"Never mind. Uh, why are you here?"

She frowned. "You don't sound too good."

I narrowed my eyes. "Answer the damn question."

The girl shrugged, off-hand. "They're training me as a weapon. But I'm serious, when was the last time they checked on you?"

So, they were training her as a weapon, and judging by her tone, she was okay with this? And what, exactly, did that entail?

"Un…important." I muttered, taking a minute to fill my lungs again. "Tell… me, do you serve… King Arthur or… Osama bin Laden?"

The girl's blue eyes flashed, and she moved quickly, her hands forming tight fists as if half-wishing to hit me. "Osama bin Laden is a terrorist! I would never kill so many innocents as he has. People like him, who just kill anyone, civilians, enemy soldiers… agh! It makes me want to kill someone myself! I just wish we could have peace, you know?" She sounded awfully angry for a peace-loving hippie.

"So… I guess… It's Arthur. Didn't… know… I was addressing… Guinevere."

The girl cooled down a little, her cheeks blooming with red, and she looked down, now embarrassed. But eventually she looked up, meeting my eyes again.

"How did you learn about the Knights of the Round Table?"

"I can… time travel. It's a…useful… talent." I smirked.

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Is there… a point… to this questioning?"

The girl casually pulled a knife out of her boot (definitely Knights Templar) and began sharpening it with a stone from her pocket. I hadn't pegged her as a terrorist, or "weapon", as she put it, but I'm not always excellent at judging people. Take Jeb for example. But she had seemed like she was made of stronger stuff when we had first met, to now be caving to the School. When satisfied with her knife, looking at her reflection in both sides of the blade, then pressing the point into her fingertip. A bead of blood appeared, vibrant against her white shirt and pale skin. She tossed the knife to the floor.

"I think you have pneumonia."

I raised an eyebrow. "Continue, Guinevere."

Guinevere looked like she was trying to decide whether or not to be irritated, but gave up and brushed it aside. "I had it onetime. The doctor kept talking to me, about school and stuff, then was like, 'Oh, yeah, she's all gaspy and can't talk properly, she has pneumonia.' Except he was articulate and kind of nice, so that made up for the whole tricking me into helping him out. He could have just _asked _me to talk to see if I was gaspy, which I also could have told him from the beginning-"

"Guinevere!"

"Arthur!"

"Please…get…on with the diagnosis!"

She raised her hands, surrendering. "Point taken. It's a disease of the lungs, infecting the tissue and causing it to… well, I can't remember if it dies or if it just stops working, but either way, part of your lungs stop working, so your lungs don't work in the infected areas. This makes it harder to breathe, so it's harder to talk. You also get really tired, and I never felt like eating, even though I was starving. What say you, my King?"

"I say… call me… Empress or Supreme… Ruler… or nothing."

"Empress Arthur doesn't have quite the same ring as King Arthur." She defended. "But I will worn you… without medication it can be pretty dangerous. Up until the nineteen hundreds when over the counter meds became widespread, pneumonia was pretty dangerous."

"Really? You're kidd-" Sarcastic remarks really lose their ring when you begin coughing violently and have to stop for a few minutes even after so I could get my breath back. Anyway, once I recovered, I gestured to her knife and the targets.

"Weapon?"

Now, I had absolutely no idea why this girl was stuck with the whitecoats, what she had done, if she was even completely human, but she _was _going through with what the whitecoats wanted her to do, so I have no idea why this defensive look crossed her face, her mouth twisting into a frown and her eyes immediately taking on this cold, calculating look, as if she was measuring me up. It was odd, on such a Sunshine Child, as my mother called people like her. Pale, freckled skin, with permanent rosy cheeks, blue eyes… these Sun Children usually have blonde hair to her brunette, but mom wasn't picky. It was just a thing she had come up with. So this usually perky Sun Child was looking pretty dark…

"Why should I tell you?" She snapped, on the defensive. "Not like you'd care."

"Look, Guinevere -" I rasped, then coughed. "I'm not… gonna… play… this game with you. I… have to… stop… the whitecoats… so… if they're just… gonna send you… to battle…"

"You don't want to grow fond of me?"

I narrowed my eyes. Grow fond? "I don't want… to get chummy… with you… then have…"

"To kill me."

I would have nodded, if my head didn't feel as heavy as a rock. "Precisely."

Guinevere (as I had come to know her, given that she had not supplied a name) cracked a grim smile. "Now that we have that worked out." And though she looked ready to rest, or go back to shooting, I reached out, grabbing her hand before she could move. She jumped about a mile, but I pulled her close. Definitely human, if I could still beat her, even as weak as I felt.

"Guinevere." I breathed. "I… don't know… why you're working… for-" cough. "Them. But they're bad…. I… need to know… what they're planning."

Guinevere jerked, but I held her wrist tight. I coughed again, unfortunately spattering her with my germs, but some things can't be helped. "Please." She whimpered. "Max… you have to understand."

"How're they… bribing you?" I slurred. "You're… trading… your prize… for the fate… of the world."

"How would you know?" She spat, flinging my arm aside and throwing a defensive punch-not harmful, but meant to buy you time to move away-something Jeb had taught us but I had never seen fit to need. "How would you know what I'm going through? What if… what if they had your Flock, and told you if you didn't do what they wanted, they would kill the Flock? What would you do?"

She had no idea that she had basically just stabbed me in the heart. I staggered to my feet, staring her down and trying not to cry out in anger or misery, whichever prevailed.

"No!" She yelled, backing away and grabbing her knife. "I want to hear it from your lips, Maximum Ride! If they had your family at gunpoint and you were free with an easy route to save the world-would you leave them to die or save the world? Goddammit, answer me!"

The worst part, even worse than when she broke down and started sobbing, hammering the floor with the knife tip in an outward rush of pent up feelings, was that I didn't know the answer myself. I wanted to save the world. I wanted to say I would choose that one. But… without my family, I wouldn't be able to save the world. It was like those questions girls ask each other at sleepovers, choosing the two most disgusting boys in the grade and making another choose which one they would kiss in a hypothetical situation, but a million times worse. And I was beginning to realize, may not be hypothetical any more.

I crept over to the girl, as softly as I could, but acutely aware that it was getting difficult to breath, and when I fell to my knees beside her, I was nearly as useless as she was. We were both curled on the floor, completely unable to defend ourselves, and overcome with goddamn emotion. But I reached over and took the knife from Guinevere's hand and held the callused thing tight.

"Guinevere." I whispered. "What… have they done… to you?"

She gulped, shaking as she tried to get her cries under control, and didn't respond. I felt a flash of fury for the men who had done this to her-for the adults who had kidnapped this girl and done unspeakable things. I had heard the contempt in her voice when she thought of acts of injustice, and knew her actions were anything but willing. I tried to get to my feet again, and when that failed, tried to balance on my knees. The whitecoats had made no attempt to hide these cameras, and I could look the viewers straight in the eye.

"You… see this… you sick bastards?" I snapped, acutely aware of how quiet and weak my voice was, and how I needed a minute to regain myself afterward. "You are forcing her… to go against her will… for your own gain… and God only knows… what you've done… to do so… and so help me… I will… send you all… to the deepest pits… of Hell… where I'm sure… you'll… regret… your foul nature." If there was a Hell. I wasn't sure of Heaven, either, but given recent events, I found it much easier to believe in Hell than in Heaven. The effort to reprimand our captors exhausted me, and I fell down beside Guinevere with renewed helplessness.

"They shot my dog, Max." She whispered around sniffs. It was soft, for my ears only. "When they captured me. I was riding. They shot my dog first. Then brought the horse here. Said if I didn't do what they wanted, they'd kill him. I tried to resist. They whipped him to shreds, first. Sliced him up with a knife. Finally killed him. Then they showed pictures of… my little brother. Said they'd do the same thing to him if I didn't cooperate." A fresh round of sobs shook her scrawny frame. I patted her shoulder, absorbing her words. "What would you have me do?"

"Pull a Disney movie." I tried to laugh. "Follow… your heart. If the Flock… can… hear me now… I'll never hear the end… of that one."

This spurred another round of laughter-sobs, and I patted her wingless back with a bit of a lighter heart, now that I knew she wasn't crazy. What would I have her do? It's not like she was my disciple or anything…

"Sorry." She mumbled, wiping her face with a grimy sleeve. "I'm just kinda overwhelmed."

"Understandable." I rasped, smiling slightly. "What… are they bribing you to do?"

"They're training me. I'm going to be their icon to save the world." She said matter-of-factly, as if telling me that two plus two comes to four. "They think you failed, and they want me to take over for you."

"Fang." I growled, having no trouble leaking as much menace as possible into my voice. My labored breathing may have been louder than my voice, but I could sure as hell sound as pissed as I was. "This… is… crap."

He shot me a look that said, This entire freaking situation is crap, but how many options do we have? Yeah, that's right, so shut up. I shot him a look with a lot more expletives, which he pointedly ignored. Lamy had caught his attention with his announcement that yes, I had pneumonia, and that yes, the doctors had infected me, and that no, I was obviously not doing to well, and that no, Lamy was not allowed to interfere, because the psychos were still into the whole "work for your rewards" thing. So he had come in. Said they could earn some drugs to make me better. Ella and Fang had been most vocal. So here we were, all piled into a helicopter, with Ella and Fang uncaged, but trapped in a little plexiglass box in the middle of the 'copter. The wind was crazy loud as we rose through the air, and the spinning part that propels the machine was driving me crazy. Plus, we had absolutely no idea where we were. Cool beans. Not.

"Alright, mutants." Shortie (as I had dubbed our temporary caretaker (this meaning keeper of the keys) who came along for the ride) came in through the small door that separated us from the front of the machine, where the drivers and scientists worked and drank pina coladas. "Your test for today involves this human girl, approximately ninety pounds, and this avian-human mutant, approximately ninety-five pounds. The girl will be tossed from the helicopter as a chosen elevation, and the avian will have to catch her. They will both wear tracking devices, be followed by a mobile camera to document the procedure, and wear bracelets that monitor their heart rates, energy consumption, and exhaustion levels. Dr. Ts'ai wishes for me to report that the prize for a successful completion of this test is a bottle of pneumonia medication, but that you are free to back out at any time."

_Goddammit Fang and Ella, I swear to God, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Albus Dumbledore, and Walt Disney, that if you don't die I will rip you limb from limb._

_ Max, _Angel whispered into my mind. _ Calm down, they're just trying to help you!_

_ Get out of my head before I start cussing like a sailor and negatively influence you!_

One crisis averted, but I didn't feel like I had won anything.

"Ella…" I whispered, leaning my face in to the bars of my cage. How could she be doing this? There she sat, cross-legged and cross-armed in the corner of her plexiglass box, following the whitecoats with eyes that clearly meant business. But why was she acting so tough? She wasn't! She shouldn't be there! These thoughts circulated through my mind, terrified for my very human half sister and her fate. Fang… well, as long as the whitecoats stuck to their word, Fang would not have any trouble besides catching Ella, which would be a strain, but I knew he was glad to stretch his wings. But all the same, I found my eyes wandering to him a few times. He sat calmly, staring into nothing, for the longest time, until a few EM's came to pull the door to the outside open, then yanked Ella and Fang out of the cage. The air was so loud, whipping through the compartment and tearing the whitecoat's words from his mouth. However, he did pull up a projection on the flat wall that would slide open if you wanted to get to the front compartment. For now it worked as a screen, already showing Fang, who glared at this floating camera, whirring with mechanical flight and not providing a very steady image in the wind.

Mom yelled as the EM tried to force Ella toward the open door, but she held up her hands and roared "Hands off!" In such a commanding way that the EM backed away for a minute.

"I can jump for myself!" She protested, stepping closer to the door. Her eyes met Fang's, restrained as he was by three EMs. "Just say when!"

The whitecoats said when. Ella said Jeronimo. We all gasped, and I collapsed in coughs. Fifty carefully counted seconds later, they released Fang.

We're all part bird, obviously, and sometimes I toy around with guessing just what we "are." At this point, with Fang poised at the opening in the helicopter, his hair whipping all over the place, but his eyes just as dark, just as calculating as usual, he was very much like a bird of prey who spots a mouse five thousand feet below. Then when he dived, he was like a dark swan (he'll totally kill me if he ever reads this, man am I getting gushy) just because suddenly he was cutting through the air like a carp does water, and now I need to stop the similes. I was trying to concentrate on these things, how he kept his wings peeled straight back, angling mere feathers to turn him every so slightly, to keep myself from freaking out. Next to the big screen that showed his progress was a little screen with a dot for Fang, a dot for Ella, and the ocean. They were quickly gaining on each other.

Fang gritted his teeth, completely angular, but it was still another agonizing few seconds (which, when you're falling through the air can seem like an eternity because you're sure you'll go _splat _on your next heartbeat) before he was within reaching distance of Ella, rolling head-over-heels through the air. He reached out, grabbing her arms, and slowly unfurled his wings, pulling them into a steep dive, but then he was pulling up and flapping his wings and I was breathing.

"Oh, thank God." Mom whimpered, collapsing against the side of her cage.

Fang paused midair, flapping while he tried to adjust Ella's position so she was easier to carry, and cast a dirty look at the flying camera. If looks could kill. Then he bent his head close to Ella's, peering into her eyes, then he placed two fingers on her jugular. She squirmed, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, Fang, what are you doing?"

"Seeing if you're going into shock."

"Oh." She chirped, looking around, down at the ground, and back at Fang. "Well, I think I'm okay. Like, a little jittery, but I'm okay. I'll sing the ABCs or count my fingers, if that will prove it."

Fang rolled his eyes, hiked her up a little, and began to gain altitude, concentrating hard on lifting her as softly as possible. We watched their progress for another minute or so when he jerked, his wings expanding to catch the air as he dropped. I sucked in a breath, then coughed.

"Ella," he panted, "Do you mind… not taking in the view, for now?"

"Right." She apologized quickly. "Uh, anything else I can do? Or not do? Or-"

"Ramble on about something inconsequential."

She paused for a minute, looking at the camera, then back at Fang. "Why are you listening to them?"

He jerked again, she peeped a little as she slipped, but apologized quietly. "Wrong question?"

"Given that they're observing us." He murmured dryly. "But then-do you want me to let you fall?"

She shook her head, and he nodded to himself. They were about ten feet away from the helicopter when he whispered something in her ear, drowned out by the whir of the propellers. Ella frowned, but nodded, and he gently placed her on the floor. Ignoring the others, he pushed her to the ground and took her hand, feeling for a pulse, clamminess…

"I learned all about shock last year." She protested. "I'm fine. Promise."

After a moment of quick, silent examination of her face, he dropped her hand and got to his feet, not seeing the EMs lurking around the corner.

_"Fang!" _I whispered, and he ducked just in time to avoid a blow that would have rendered him unconscious. All the same, the other nabbed him from behind, laughing in his ears. He kicked and struggled, but as soon as the other had Ella in his grasp, he stopped. They laughed again, mockingly, and let him stand on his own, knowing he wouldn't risk anything if Ella was in danger.

"Enjoying yourself?" One growled, jabbing him with the point of a handgun. Given our past with such firearms, Fang backed up a few paces. "We gave her a thirty second head start previously. Now we're going with a minute."

"NO!" Iggy yelled, ramming into his cage as the other lifted Ella outside the 'copter, waving her back and forth so her legs would wiggle. She spat some foul words that would have infuriated Mom at any other time, but then she was falling again, and Iggy was cursing and I was banging on my bars and Fang was watching the EMs as if imagining them roasting on a spit. Fifty-nine seconds later, they pushed him to the edge, but it was only when they removed the gun from his back did he dive again.

It still killed me that he and Ella-Ella especially, given that she was human and non winged and not use to this (sorry, Fang)-were going through this for drugs I didn't need. Well, given the state of my breathing at the time, maybe they would have been useful, but it was wholly unnecessary for them to go through with this. At least this time he caught up to her much more quickly, given that instead of her free fall, Ella had positioned herself like a parachuter to catch the air. It was probably the instructions Fang had given her. But he still labored to bring her up higher, given that she practically weighed as much as he.

"Okay," she began. "I have a game to pass the time and help you concentrate on something else, 'kay?"

He was silent. She continued, used to this. "Alright, so one of us asks a question, and the other has to answer it completely honestly. Just fun questions, you know?"

"Honesty… is not always… the best policy." He muttered, "They use it against you."

"It's just inconsequential stuff." She waved it away. "Here, I'll go first. What's your favorite color?"

There was no hesitation. "Blue."

"Why?"

"My turn. Favorite… _Harry Potter _character."

"I can't choose one!" She gasped, holding his shoulders tightly as he navigated air pockets and the harsh winds. She closed her eyes. I wondered how many times we would have to do this. "But… probably Luna or Dobby, for non-Gryffindors. Favorite… condiment?"

"Whipped cream for dessert. Honey mustard otherwise."

"Cool Whip is so much better than whipped cream." Ella scoffed. "You can freeze it and eat it with a spoon. And it doesn't come in little aerosol containers."

Fang rolled his eyes. "Excuses. Plus, isn't aersosol is still legal?"

"Not for long. Why blue?"

Fang shot her a look. "That didn't count as a question." He said. "It's called conversation, though everyone's always surprised when I actually take part in it. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?"

For a moment, Ella looked crestfallen, but then she saw his little half-smirk, and knew he was kidding. But she didn't think long about her question. "Atlantis or Pluto. Now, why blue?"

"A number of reasons. Favorite… mythological creature?"

"Dragon. Duh. Give me three reasons, and they don't have to be the most important ones."

He couldn't help the smile. "It's the color of the sky at night. It's the color of the sky during the day. It's the color of the Caribbean ocean. Why a dragon?"

Ella was still thinking about his answer, peering at Fang's face from her position leaning her head on his shoulder. "So I could breathe fire, fly, and have an excuse to eat people."

He snickered.

"What's so special about the Caribbean?"

He sighed heavily, not speaking for a while before muttering something almost unintelligible. She kicked him. He glared at her.

"I'm not a horse."

"Neither is Iggy, but you kick him. You have to answer."

"Says who? Will I be pursued legally? Are you gonna pull a gun or knife out of your pocket?"

Ella sniffed. "Do those count as your questions? It's the honor code. You always answer honestly when playing these sort of games. And now you just made such a big deal out of the answer, I'm going to assume it's a touchy subject, but you still have to give all the details, and it would have been so much easier-"

"You spend way too much time with Nudge. How do you know I'm not just being obnoxious?"

Ella sputtered. "It passes time," Fang pointed out. I grinned.

"C'mon. Why the Caribbean?"

"Because I hate cold water."

"Was that so hard?"

"What the _hell _would you do on Pluto?"

"Have a Kodak moment. Why do you hate cold water? Ooh, wait, uh, disregard it if necessary, you know, 'cause of the whitecoats…" He let her ramble herself out, then looked over his shoulder at her.

"Max never told you?"

"Obviously."

"When we were… eight? I was sleeping, having a nightmare, and she took this huge bucket of ice water and dumped it on my head. Scared the hell out of me."

Ella laughed so hard that Fang had to adjust his flight pattern, but he didn't look angry about it, shaking his head softly, while I tried to breathe around my laughter.

"Why…did…she…do…that?" Ella choked out between snickers.

He pretended to muse it over. "I think it had something to do with how I stole a pair of her jeans-her nice ones-for Iggy's fuse, which he used to break into her closet. But seriously. Pluto?"

"It'd be interesting. I want to see the stars the way no else has before. I want to explore other planets. I want to be the Lewis and Clark of the galaxy."

"Or just Han Solo." Fang muttered.

Their banter kept me, at least, from going completely crazy, but please keep in mind: we are not superheroes. I know, everyone's surprised, but really. We can't jump over buildings in a single bound, we cannot lift enormous boulders the size of houses like Hercules, and yeah, we can fly, but I'm the only one who can go superspeed, and there's no one fist pointed forward, like Superman. The point of all this is that we had eaten little, and had not drank anything for-two days?-and we need fuel. By the time Fang reached the helicopter the second time, he was breathing raggedly. He tried to pull off the tough-guy act, which everybody not in the Flock may have been fooled by, but we all know what it's like to fly upwards carrying something almost as heavy as you are, and that's with a big lunch. So this time, when they increased the time by a minute and a half, us six (Total has no idea) all stopped breathing. Fang's eyes flashed, and he looked to Ella anxiously as if he could catch her with his sight. Then he looked to me, my mom, and back to Ella. No one spoke until he caught Ella, and then that was only a "Thank God." From mom. Ella tried to talk to him as he labored upwards, but eventually fell silent, watching their progress.

"Is it awkward, carrying me?" She asked leaning far over to look down at the ocean.

"In what way?"

"I dunno. I'm not exactly a backpack." She shrugged, but he just shook his head.

"A little. But don't worry-just don't lean far over-" he raised his voice slightly so she could hear as they were assailed by a fresh gust of wind. He rode the current for a moment, catching his breath.

"Thanks for doing this, by the way." Ella yelled over the wind. "We're going so fast!"

She couldn't see his small smile as if to say, "She thinks _this _is fast?" But it disappeared in the final stretch and he looked downright furious when they landed for the third time. It went like this, a few more times, increasing by thirty seconds intervals until they announced the sixth and that she would be given a four minute head start. That was when Fang calmly just said, "Wait."

We all jumped, looking to him to see if he was kidding, which of course, he wasn't. He crossed his arms and stared impassively at the scientist.

"Excuse me?" And EM growled, tightening his hold on Ella's wrist. She winced. "Are you going to let her fall? She'll land so hard, she'll break against the water."

"You saw how close we were last time." He murmured, looking out the door. "I cannot catch her and pull up before we hit the water."

"So?" One of the whitecoats leered, though Lamy looked uncomfortable, standing in the doorway. "That's your problem. Push her off."

Ella should have been gone, but she had latched on pretty tightly to the EMs wrist, even as he tried to shake her off out the door. She was tossed around by the air currents, but held on like a leech.

"I…Told…You! I can jump!" She yelled, and finally the EM was forced to withdraw, and Ella, casting a disgusted look at our party of captors, jumped out the door. Fang eyed the gun pointed at Nudge's head, and stepped slowly to the edge of the helicopter. I could see him preparing himself, knees bending ever so slightly, leaning forward but shoulders back for making aerodynamics, and as soon as the timer buzzed at four, he leapt.

I was biting my nonexistent fingernails. Iggy was straining to hear anything. Nudge held onto Angel through the bars of their cages, and Gazzy began humming a little ditty to keep his mind off imagining the worse. Total was muttering furiously, going on about the Constitution and rights and other such nonsense that never seems to apply to us.

Ella's dot was very close to the line of the ocean on the little screen.

_C'mon, Fang_. I begged, knowing how hard he was trying, knowing how determined he was to be wrong but the thing is, Fang never would have brought up his weakness if he hadn't been positive about the outcome. Luckily, Fang is always trying to prove everybody wrong, even himself, and he was advancing quickly.

When Ella came into view, she was still in parachuter's position, her neck craned upward so she wouldn't have to see the water below. Her eyelids were peeled back by the G-force, and this was how Fang found her. They almost had it down to a science now: he would swoop above her, grab her arms, and slowly lift out of the dive to keep from anybody breaking under the sudden change of speed. Fun fact: You know how Superman always catches that girl, Lois Lane, when she's falling, and she lands like he just picked her up? In actuality, that would snap her neck, so we were trying to avoid that. This time, though, Fang had absolutely no extra time to indulge in a slow dive. He grabbed her around the waste and immediately expanded his wings to their full length, catching all the air and jerking them backwards. They were thirty feet from the water. He immediately began to backpedal, aiming with his wings to slow down their ascent.

"ELLA!" He yelled over the uncontrollable, raging wind above the ocean. "When I say so, drop like a pencil into the water. Once there, spread your limbs out."

Ten feet, and he was still pulling up. Mere heartbeats later, he yelled, "Now!" I dropped Ella, who sliced like a bullet into the water. Fang had just enough time to yank him wings in close and curl into a ball. The water exploded around him, and the little camera pod took the chance to move in closer.

I do not necessarily believe in God or any other deities, though my Mom is Episcopalian, but it is moments like this that find me praying to someone, anyone, because when you are utterly powerless to help endangered loved ones, you find yourself desperate that someone can. Luckily, Ella popped up a few moments later, coughing and sputtering and churning in the water. She had taken swimming lessons every summer her whole life, and she was pretty good at it, but this was the middle of the Pacific, according to the scientists, and the waves were grey and choppy. She crested and dipped again, yelling something only to be choked on the waves. Eventually I found it was Fang's name. He still hadn't come up.

"What's happening?" Iggy growled, anxious. "I can't…"

"They hit the water." Mom breathed. "Ella surfaced. Fang's…"

"There!" Nudge pointed to the little screen. Given that it was an altitude map, it showed Fang's little dot what I guessed to be about twenty feet below Ella's. He wasn't making much progress, probably stunned at the impact and cold water, but gradually he began to make an effort. He circled under water, scoping out the situation, and suddenly he was swimming full tilt for the surface, and burst out feet from Ella. She said his name again, more relief this time, and they struck towards each other, but he was yelling for her to stay back. Ella paused, unsure, and Fang swam forwards, grabbing her arm.

"You can swim?" He shouted to her over the waves. She nodded. "Hold onto my shoulders." He instructed, spinning around and keeping her behind him.

"Fang?" She called as he spun slowly, eyes trained on something none of us could see, and apparently, nor could Ella. "What are you looking for?"

He didn't reply. I swore to myself. I doubted it was Flounder and Ariel.

Ella repeated his name sharply, rather like I do when asking which one of the boys raided my room. Finally, her nagging grew so much that he broke his concentration to snap, "_Quiet!_"

She silenced, but Fang seemed to be slightly regretting his tone. "Don't scream. Don't be frightened. That makes them more likely to attack." He murmured, then looked directly to the camera, meaning he was looking us and the scientists directly in the eyes.

"We're currently being circled by a _Galeocerdo cuvier_, Tiger Shark. For those of you who need a refresher, they are one of the most aggressive sharks in the ocean. They can and have been known to eat people. I know you don't care about me, but killing a 100% human is murder. Assistance would be largely appreciated."

Ella's eyes widened in fear, and he grip tightened on Fang's shoulder, pressing him into the water. She gasped, backing up, but Fang shot up immediately, wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling her to his chest, and ducked under. Their dot spun in the water, and the scientists, fascinated, observed a new dot that appeared on the screen, circling more tightly each time. Definitely looking for something to eat.

"This is fascinating." Murmured Shorty. "It looks to be about five meters long, judging by our radar-"

"You _knew _it was there?" Mom shrieked, pressed so hard against the bars of her cage that she could hardly form the words. "You knew that one of the sharks responsible for the most human deaths was in the water nearby-and you made them jump?"

"No. Not until now. We weren't watching the radar." Shorty said calmly. He picked up a radio. "Get down lower to the water. I want to get this on film."

I heard when mom began reciting the Lord's prayer, but my eyes were glued on the screen. I found myself begging the helicopter would descend faster, and maybe they would have some sympathy. But no, we were thirty feet above the water, and when the dot symbolizing the shark began to charge forward, there was nothing we could do. The camera showed Ella's head above the surface, just barely, and then she was pulled under-I yelped-but a moment later, Fang propelled them out of the water, his wings snatching at the air. I don't know how he did it, unless he kicked out at the shark and used the momentum as it leapt into the air to charge himself. His wings angled sideways, dodging the shark's gaping maw, and then he quickly rose to grab at the side of the helicopter and push Ella inside. They both fell to the ground, gasping for air, and though Fang was on his hands and knees, he crawled over to Ella, coughing and blue for lack of air, wrapped his arms around her chest and jerked upward. Sea water expelled from her lungs, and then she was breathing, collapsing to the floor.

Fang just fell back against the wall, panting and coughing little amounts of water from his mouth. His eyes were shut, and he barely had the energy to look up when a scientist walked toward him.

"Leave him alone." I begged, banging onto my cage. "Please-don't touch him!"

But the scientist, not exactly the strongest chap, grabbed onto Fang's arm and yanked him to his feet.

"How the hell did you do that, boy?" He snarled, shaking him when he didn't reply. "Answer me!"

Fang flicked a glance to Ella, who was hugging our Mom through the bars of her cage, tears streaming down their faces, then glanced back at the scientist, utterly defeated. The scientist shook him again, then slapped him across the face. Iggy told him to do something that I wasn't sure was physically possible.

"If you ask him nicely," Angel supplied quietly, "He might answer."

This stunned everyone, causing us all to look at her. She looked up from a chunk of hair she was twisting, trying to braid. "You know. Politely. Like you would a friend. Use his name. Say "would you mind" or "please." He's not a rude person if you're nice to him."

The scientist, still looking slightly dumbfounded, turned back to Fang, who raised his chin defiantly, daring Shorty to listen to seven year old mutant.

"Fang," he rumbled. "Tell us, uh, please, how you the hell you did that."

Fang raised an eyebrow. Angel tutted. I could almost smile.

"Fang, would you please tell us how you accomplished that feat?"

I watched, completely unsure of what Fang would do. Humor Angel, as the whitecoat had done, or-oh. He spat in Shorty's face, passive face now alight in fury.

"You want to know how I did it? Why don't you ask _why _I had to do it, you sick bastard. You _threw _a thirteen year old girl-a human, mind you, not even part way, like me-outside of a helicopter thousands of feet up in the air into shark infested waters! I want to know what you dream about at night, what things haunt you, who you pray to, what your _mother _would say if she knew about what you've done. What if she-" he gestured to Ella, still crying quietly, "Was your sister? Your daughter? What then?"

His voice, not rising, but exploding from the start, caught us all off guard. It was hoarse and strained, but Fang could speak to the heart, reach into the deepest part of your soul and make you feel whatever he wants you to. Guilt, in this case. Had I been the one, or Gazzy or Angel, that was abused, he would have expressed his fury in his traditional way, but this was Ella; Ella who wasn't supposed to be here, who didn't have wings, who led a normal life, who had probably never even dreamed of such things as a Tiger Shark attack and free falls through the air.

Between he and Angel, Shorty was completely taken aback. Lamy had disappeared completely, as if by disappearing, he could deny that this was ever happening. But the EMs had not lost sense, one grabbing Ella, one holding Fang's arms behind his back, and the third beating him. We were rising unsteadily, the floor rocking beneath us, and usually Fang would use this to his advantage, but now he just sagged and tried to fend off the hits as best as he could.

I tried to yell, truly, I did. I tried to do something to stop his suffering that literally stabbed at my heart and caused tears to well in my eyes, even if I didn't let them fall. But my voice, my lungs, nothing was working, and all I could do was cough and try to breath and wonder if this was really the end?

They decided, as punishment for Fang's outburst, that he deserved one more. Since it wasn't part of the test, they waited the same amount of time before pushing Ella out the door, but before they did so, Fang grabbed her arm.

He breathed her name, pulling her close and away from prying ears. That he was exhausted, beaten, was obvious. His lips were red as Dracula's, blood welling in his mouth. One eye was already swelling shut, and his ribs took a huge beating. But he held her arm tightly.

"When… we hit the water." He breathed. "Land the same way. I'll come back faster. Can you see underwater?"

She shook her head.

"Keep your head above, then, watch for the fin. It will circle, then come in swiftly for the attack. Face it's front, don't let it get behind you. If it comes in, punch it's nose, kick it's gills, and don't yell. Challenge it. Intimidation-don't touch me if you know what's good for you."

He had whipped around, keeping Ella behind his tall form, and glared up at the EM. But all it had to do was point to me, and Fang grudgingly moved aside. Ella took one last glance of us all-probably wondering if this was the last time she would ever see us-and looked right at Fang.

"Bloody, but unbowed, Fang." She told him fiercely. "Remember that."

Mom couldn't help a sob escape her body when she jumped. Fang fell down on his knees beside my cage, and I reached my hand through the bars to grab his, holding it tight. It was sticky with dried saltwater, but it felt familiar in mine. The calluses, his grip, I never wanted to let him go.

"You can do this." I murmured softly, reaching my other hand to brush his dripping hair from his eyes. Dark and flecked with gold, as usual, but they held nothing of the defiance that I usually saw, and when directed at me, hated. "It's… a poem." I whispered, leaning my head close to his. "By… Henley. Ella taught it to me. " 'Beyond this place of wrath and tears/Looms but the horror of the Shade…/And yet the menace of the years/Finds… and shall find me unafraid.' " I paused, regaining my breath, aware that the time was ticking. " 'It matters not how strait the gate/how charged with punishments the scroll/ I am the master of my fate… I am the captain…' "

" 'Of my soul.' " He finished, smiling against the hand I held to his cheek, leaning into it. He closed his eyes softly, peacefully. "It was in a commercial for some movie about human rights." Fang stopped speaking, resting and preparing himself for the task ahead. The bars were limiting, but I stroked his face with the one hand. And for a moment, despite Ella falling closer and closer to the water below us, it seemed we had reached some time of our own, and there was no fear in my heart, and I didn't register the pain in my lungs.

His eyes flicked open at the three minute mark. And he was back, strong and resistant as ever. I let my hand fall away, and he blinked reassuringly before getting to his feet and taking position. Twenty seconds later, he was shooting again down, down, down, and reaching for Ella in the nick of time, and the helicopter began to descend as soon as he jumped, ready to pick them up and go home. But something came over his face then, some panic that had him stopping in air so sharply it was almost dangerous. His eyes expanded, focusing on the water below, and he spent his precious little time to throw Ella twenty feet to the side before the shark leapt out of the water, grabbing his wing, and dragging him under.

I yelled. I wasn't the only one. We landed neatly in the water near Ella, and one of the EMs threw her a rope. Unsure of what had happened, having just resurfaced, Ella pulled herself in quickly, but as soon as she got up and saw our faces, heard our screams, and looked back outside, she made as if to jump back into the water.

_"No!" _She shrieked, whaling on the EM that held her back. He chained her foot to the wall, but she continued to throw herself forward, sobbing as the minutes passed and nobody emerged.

This just wasn't happening. I kept waiting, positive that any second, he'd pop out of the water, soaking and maybe half-drowned, but all right. Or maybe I'd wake up and the whitecoats would not have told them what they had to do for my meds yet, or maybe the entire thing was a dream… but no, there was too much pain for that.

But all the same. Fang didn't break promised, and he had, he _had_. He said he'd never leave me. He couldn't… couldn't be gone. It wasn't happening. Angel was sobbing unabashedly. Gazzy was calling his name, and Iggy was just silent.

"No! Fang, dammit, get back here!" Ella hollered to the wind, pitching forward with the rocky waves. The camera pod was whirring around above the water, trying to find its subject, and only paused when it found a pool of dark red, riding along the waves like oil from the BP spill in the Gulf.

"No." I whispered. It couldn't be. I wouldn't let it. And he couldn't be dead. I would… I would _know._ Somehow! But there it was, and no one was emerging, and the EMs were chuckling to themselves as they helped themselves to some crackers Shorty had brought them. I looked back to my mother.

"Mom?" I croaked, a whole question in the word, but her tear streaked face just collapsed when she saw me, and she shook her head, collapsing inward with silenced sobs. I looked back out at the water, trying to find him. He was out there, somewhere…

The flying camera blinked off, and whirred back to the helicopter where it was stored by the short whitecoat. This couldn't be happening. My hands were still warm from where I had held his hand, stroked his cheek, his eyes were still burned into my mind, he couldn't just be _gone_. Not like that.

I couldn't breath. I choked, realizing this and then trying to force my lungs to expand, but this just resulted in more coughing. My lungs burned, my head spun… how could this be happening? Blood pounded in my ears, drowning out the sound of my rapid breathing and the sounds of the Flock. The ocean was spinning around me, and I grabbed at the bars of the cage, yanking. I had to escape, get into the water myself and find him.

And then-it still amazes me-not five feet from us-something shot from a dip between two waves, leaping off the snout of what looked at least to be a fifteen foot long shark. The shark snatched at the air with massive jaws, but fell back down. Fang's enormous wings maneuvered the air in rough but practiced movements, and he practically made a hole in the floor as he crashed inside and almost rolled out the other door. Luckily Ella was fast and grabbed at his arm, pulling him back.

He lay, gasping, on his back, one wing pinned under his body. The EMs dropped their crackers. Whitecoats poured into our room, and Fang was scrambling away in a heartbeat. He tried to get to his feet, staring up at the whitecoats in a panic, but one leg collapsed beneath him, the sea water running off him red with blood. But he grabbed at Ella, and they both pulled back. For a moment, the whitecoats stared, but then Shorty shrugged resignedly, and he led the scientists away, leaving us alone with our guards, who promptly chained Fang to a similar manacle as Ella's and shut the doors to the outside.

Except for Lamy. He walked forward cautiously, handed a box of pills and some white gauze to Ella, and ducked out the door.

For a moment, Ella just held Fang's arm where she grabbed it, but then she flung herself at him, sobbing.

"Thank God you're okay! I never would have lived with myself… just…" But any further words were paused as she recognized something. Her eyes flickered, and she drew back, her hands, chest, and head smeared with bright crimson.

"You're hurt." She murmured, looking stunned. He nodded stiffly, but grabbed the pills from her hand and pulled himself wordlessly over to my cage. I was reaching out my hand, but when he placed the bottle there, I shook my head, pocketing them quickly before lunging forward and wrapping an arm around his neck, which was the best I could do.

"I… knew… you'd come back." I whispered, aware of how little air my lungs had, but that he had to know that I would never leave him behind, forget about him, let the whitecoats finish him like that. After a moment, consciously forcing myself to swallow the weight in my throat, I pulled back.

"Always will." He croaked, his quavering hand reaching through my bars to tap my chin up. "Promise."

"Did it… get you?" I asked. His hand fell, as if suddenly remembering, and he nodded, eyelids fluttering, and fell to his knees, then sliding to the side as he slipped on his wet, injured leg. Ella crawled over, gauze in hand, and grabbed his wrist, checking a pulse.

"Not dead yet." He muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm seeing if you're going into shock."

"Oh, the irony. A, B, C, D, E…"

"Shut up." She growled, peeling back his pant ruined lower pant-leg determinedly, biting her lip when she saw the red mess of flesh. It was clean enough, for a shark bite, but the teeth had dug in deep. She began to follow Mom's instruction, pulling out teeth and mopping the wound. Mom produced a needle and thread from her pocket, which made Fang grit his teeth, but as he pointed out when Mom apologized, "Shark bite's worse."

"Guess so." She allowed, sniffing and trying to clean up her face. "That was magnificent work, Fang. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"It's nothing."

"No, really, you risked your life to help Max and practically _gave-_"

"Dr. M!" He interjected, the loudest statement he had made since his return. He eyed her, shaking his head and spattering me with drops of water. "There's nothing to thank. Anyone…would…have done it."

"Credit where credit it due." Murmured Ella. "Thank you. But you never told me: why the Caribbean?"

He smiled to himself and leaned back against the wall.

"So I can see it before they destroy it."

"They?" She asked, looking to mom to see if she was stitching correctly. Mom nodded.

Fang made a noise in the back of his throat. "My turn. What other states have you been to?"

"California, Hawaii, and France on a trip for my class."

"Don't eat the chocolates." Gazzy intoned wisely. "Trust me."

"We believe it." Nudge laughed. "'Cause, see, one time we went to France, right? And we brought back these chocolates for the boys, and Gazzy ate loads. Only we didn't know they were alcoholic, so his stomach didn't like that too much."

"Well, that would do it." Mom sniffed, casting an affectionate look in the Gasman's direction, who blushed modestly. "I have a question for you, Fang." She continued. I could see it took him physical effort not to groan aloud. He hated all the attention.

"How did you get into the air."

"Used the force of the charge to push upwards."

"Is that how you hurt your leg?"

"You're not playing by the rules, Ig. I get to ask a question now... If you had to be someone other than yourself, who would you be?"

See what I'm talking about, with is persuasive words? He knew this question would start a tangent somehow, driving attention away from himself. "I would be Queen Elizabeth the First." Nudge said immediately. "And I would wear pretty dresses and hold mega-awesome parties and feed the peasants properly."

"I would be Arnold Terminator. That guy with all the guns who saves the world from aliens!" Gazzy announced, jumping to his feet.

"Uh, Gaz," Ella began, "Aliens aren't real."

"That's what they want us to think!" He insisted seriously. "They don't want us to believe that AT actually defeated them, because it hurts their egos."

Iggy mouthed "Drop it" to Ella, who just grinned and went back to bandaging Fang's arms.

"Aliens aren't real, Gaz." Nudge scoffed. "It's just a movie."

"Was _Pearl Harbor _just a movie? Was _The Titanic _just a movie?" He interrogated fiercely. "I think not! Brigid told me."

"Yeah, they're fictional adaptations." Nudge continued. "There wasn't a camera on the _Titantic_ that they salvaged, depicting Rose and Jack and the most romantic story _everrr. _It was filmed."

"No. And I saw that girl in _Confessions of a Shopaholic _in New York, so that's real too!"

"Guys!" I barked. "Shut up! Agree… to disagree… before I sic Arnold Schwarz…enegger on you two!"

That quieted them very quickly, though Iggy cracked up.

"Except he's probably at some conference in Califorina." He chuckled. "You'll probably be put on hold. Or the secretary will write a reminder for him. "Note: Mr. S-Max called, wants you to terminate Nudge and the Gasman, two mutant bird kids who technically don't exist, according to the government. Call back ASAP.""

"Well, duh." Gazzy rolled his eyes, looking from each of us to the other as if we were missing something completely obvious. "He kills aliens and covers it up as a Hollywood film. Of _course _he works for the government."

**I'll update ASAP, but in the mean time, I did a lot of research on Tiger Sharks for this chapter, so just to clarify:**

**I couldn't find out if Tiger Sharks have the record of most human attacks/most dangerous shark, but they're labeled as "man eaters" and rightfully so, given that they either hold first or second, behind a coral shark with a black tip on the fin, which I can't remember the name of and don't have time to find because I have to update still and my sister needs me.**

**I also do not know if they can lift out of the water, like a Great White, which I was originally going to use, but I feel like they're the Mary Sues of the bad shark world, and I read a terrifying short story about Tiger Sharks onetime, so I figured, what the hey?**

** -Many TS can be up to 16 feet long**

** -Range is in Pacific, lower Atlantic off coast of Florida and south, and in the Gulf of Mexico (in the USA area, I don't know the others) but they are notorious for swimming elsewhere and have been seen up in Canada. They often swim closer to the shore to prey on turtles, thus, the attacks on humans.**

** -Can live up to 20+ years or so**

** -Have dark stripes (hence the name) that fade with age**

**Furthermore: I have never taken physics class, so a lot of the falling/jumping/catching stuff (except for the part about Lois Lane, which is true) I just sort of hypothesized. Hope it makes sense.**

**Thanks for reading, and here's a link about a Tiger Shark, if you're interested:**

**http **semi colon slash slash **surftherenow **dot come** /2009/03/13/diver-fights-and-kills-12-ft-tiger-shark-photos **slash

It shows a picture of one next to a full grown human, among other things


	57. Rebellion

**Chapter Fifty-Seven **

"Come, Master Hobbit. Sing me a song." I mimicked the psycho steward of Gondor-Ella's, Iggy's, and mine undisputed least favorite character in _The Lord of the Rings_. Yeah, worse than Gollum and the Dark Lord Sauron-which Fang was not exactly appreciative of, given the circumstances. "Circumstances" here meaning, "a situation where whitecoats had pretended to give it to us straight: the whole web of Schools and Institutes was broke. They needed the motherload of get-rich-quick schemes. And guess who gets rich quickly these days? That's right, entertainers. Good ones. And guess what? _Apparently_ there is some weird combo in our birdkid DNA that made us grow with good vocal chords, because it would seem that good voices (or lack of, I guess) is hereditary. 2+2=let's make the birdkids sing a few good songs, make it to the top of the Top 20 list, and earn the big bucks!

I'm serious as a heart attack. Which is the scary thing.

So we were sitting in this room, I was sipping from a water bottle just thankful I could _breathe _properly (thanks, Guinevere, Fang, and Ells. Fang, by the way, was still recovering, but he wasn't falling apart quite yet. At least, he was himself enough to shoot me a dirty look when I reminded him of the steward.) Gaz and Angel had been playing patty-cake, prior to when the whitecoats entered our prison with this news. Nudge braided Ella's hair. Fang tried not to bust his new stitches, which wasn't too hard, given that he was just lying on the floor. He had stayed in this position throughout the whitecoat's entire speech until they announced that, as the oldest, they wanted Fang and I to be the spokesmutants for the whole shebang.

Now, these are the guys who beat me for singing lullabies to Angel. Aside from joking around, I hadn't actually sang in years thanks to my "caretakers" and their torture devices. I'm not even kidding. Fang certainly has a voice, but it's not like he was going to put it on display for these psychos, and so he just sort of twisted his head to get a good look at the doctor, checking if he was pulling our wings. When he gathered that they were being truthful, he just made this derisive noise in the back of his throat and went back to counting tiles on the ceiling. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased with my comment. Dr. Lamy Ts'ai and his groupies did not seem to know what to do. They had been ordered to relay this information, but I don't think any of them had nicknames like Mozart or Bach.

I'm not even done with the crazy stuffload of crap that was being thrown at us, because since they had no real musical experience, they needed to call in someone who did.

I'll give you three hints to guess who:

I knew him, and had never even heard him mutter the words, "Music school."

I had thought him dead, wished him dead, thought him gone, and had completely forgotten him given our current circumstances.

His excuses weren't any better than usual.

You, there, in the back? Did you ask if it was Jeb? Well, by golly you're spot on! Yeah. Berkeley College of Music. Boston, Massachusetts. Science Major. Music minor, in songwriting. He spent two years there before he went to Harvard when his parents decided for him that he was to become a scientist, not a musician. Fluent in guitar, piano, ukelele, fiddle, and cello. To prove this little factoid, Satan himself traded places with the three scientists, as if his opinions would make us feel any better.

We were all a little stunned when he first came in through the swishy little doors, but I haven't back-talked government officials and came away with nothing over the years.

"Oh, ho, ho." I practically snarled, sounding eerily like Stripes. Fang sat up abruptly, breathing raggedly, but ready to fight despite the chains that restrained all of us. "Why didn't I guess it was you, Beethoven?"

Jeb's aging face crumpled, as if he couldn't bear to hear my scorn. Bully for him. "Max-"

"I don't want to hear it!" I roared over to him, on my feet and pulling at my manacles in the amount of time it took him to blink. "I don't want to hear your crap excuses for why every time we're captured, _you're walking free!_ I can't take anymore of your BS, Jeb, so get out of our death chamber before I kill you!"

Surprisingly, Jeb did not take this well. He had never really yelled at us, never like this. Sure, he had been pretty ticked when Fang's bird ate his best tie, and he wasn't exactly pleased when Iggy lit the kitchen on fire, but this, this was the Ultimatum of Ultimatums.

"Typical, Maximum. Always thinking of you and your Flock. Didn't I raise you better than this, dammit?" It was certainly the first time he had sworn at us. He grabbed at his hair, pacing back and forth in typical stressed mad-man form. When he continued, he spun on his foot, advancing until I held up a fist and some sense returned. "You're supposed to think of the bigger picture! Has nothing I've ever done for you made up for this? Do you ever think that _I may not want to be here_? Take that girl you talked to last week-you called her Guinevere-she's being bribed! And yet you give her a chance!"

"Don't bring her into this, don't you dare bring her into this! I don't give second chances!" I yelled back. "And you're on your third!"

"I taught you-"

"_You taught me to trust no one! To always be prepared to be betrayed!" _My voice echoed, raw in my throat. "And somehow, I always seem to forget that you've betrayed me time and time again, but you just keep coming back! When are you going to get it?"

"YOU THINK I WANT TO BE HERE?"

"I THINK YOU HAVE MORE OF A CHOICE THAN ANY OF US!"

As I said, Ultimatum of Ultimatums. Not that I couldn't match it. This shouting match had not taken long, and by the end of it, we were both breathing like racehorses after winning the Kentucky Derby. But we got it all out, all that we had both meant to say, and for once, I was done. Because for once I understood what Fang had once expressed to me: I wasn't going to waste anymore of my words or time on this feeble excuse for a human being. I cannot describe my fury, peaking in this moment. His first betrayal, when we thought he had died but he had just decided to quit playing babysitter. His second, when he tried to have us killed. And now this, now that he had not regained my trust, but at least regained enough of my respect so that I didn't kill him upon his entering a room, if you can even call it respect. Now he was standing in _our _prison, in our probable _death chamber_, free as a bird, and yelling that I was the selfish, stupid one. And now he was unfolding something from his pocket. It was a crumpled piece of paper, having been folded and unfolded and refolded so many times, the ink had worn away along the creases. He tossed this to me, and reflexively, I caught it. Glancing once at Fang, I unfolded the scrap.

It was a family photo, maybe out in Montana or Idaho? Somewhere to the north, with glaciers and mountains. They were wearing hiking gear, hats and sweaty old shirts and backpacks. The kid was on the man's-Jeb's-shoulders. They didn't look alike, the boy looked almost Indian, or maybe Nepalese. Both were utterly radiant, as was the woman with one arm around Jeb, looking at him with a loving expression. I raised an eyebrow at the Jeb in the room, a polar opposite of the tanned, exultant man in the photo. He seemed withered, aged, and as if he had spent the past ten years in a room lit by a singular light bulb.

"Flaunting Photoshop abilities?" I asked.

He choked. "That's Molly and Adrian. They have surveillance cameras on our house in Montana. I've seen them. They say… they'll kill them if I don't cooperate."

His pain was real. The photo was real. The story was real. Don't ask how I knew, it was one of those things. And yet I found myself hissing, "Go sob on someone else's shoulder." And then I ripped the photo. "Who is this kid? My replacement? _Ari's_ replacement? We not the perfect angel children you wanted? Want to see if you can put some other creature's DNA in this kid and see if he turns out better? Get the hell out of my sight."

A sob escaped the usually sober man, and he cried something that sounded something like Ari's name mixed in with a few garbled words. As he was pulled, crying and yelling, from our room, I found myself hoping that he thought they were dead. Just so he would know what it was like. And then I fell to my knees, buried my head in my hands, and screamed like a banshee.

XXXXX

By now you'll probably be aware that whitecoats don't take "No way, Jose" for an answer. Jeb was led in a few hours later and behind him rolled an electric piano. The EM pushing the thing in plugged it into an outlet below the keypad, operating the doors of our cell. An EM came forward, followed closely by dearest Dr. Silverman. He came right up to me, about my height and looked me in the eyes as if he thought he could stare into my soul or something. Mom had once told me that spitting is a sign of utter disrespect, so guess who soon had a wad of Maxaliva dripping down his chin?

"You truly are not in a position to threaten me." He said, wiping his chin on his sleeve. "Seeing as you are chained to a wall and I have an army behind me."

"Except my threats are just so much better!" I laughed, almost manically. I won't pretend that Ultimate Devil Spawn Jeb's presence was not getting to me. "See, when I promise to kill someone? It ends up done. You guys always go around lollygagging with your clipboards and syringes. Then you might decide there's nothing else worth learning and do the deed, if there isn't someone bidding on us as you sign the death warrant."

He raised an eyebrow and disregarded this completely. "What do you think about singing?"

"As in what do I listen to?" I asked, going for too-innocent-to-be-true little girl. Example: Angel. Silverman nodded.

"Only hymns, sir. These modern radio tunes are idolatrous and disrespectful of the Lord our God. All that talk of hooking up, multiple girlfriends, engaging in a certain type of physical activity before marriage… not to mention all the swearing and consumption of alcohol and drugs."

Silverman, I assure you, was nonplussed, though Ig and Ella both wore similar smiles. Mom just had one of those "Tell me she did not actually say that" looks.

"I'll give you one more chance to be a mature mutant," he continued as if I had not irked him, which I assure you, I did. I'm quite good at it. "And be respectful to your superiors. I would also appreciate it if you not take the Lord's name in vain."

"I didn't _say _his name. His name is Jehovah, if you're Christian. "God" is just a title. The ancient Greeks had gods, the Celts had gods, the Hindus have gods. And frankly, I don't give a damn what you would or would not appreciate."

Silverman raised his fist. I raised my eyebrows. But in a jerk of movement, Fang had rattled his chains and got to his feet, standing as upright as possible with a legful of sewing thread holding shark bitten flesh together. He did not say anything, but the look he gave his old whitecoat was clear. Don't touch her. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, but he ignored me, knowing that I would give him hell for trying to fight my battles. Instead, he was engaged in a stare-down with the doctor.

"How about you," he continued, "how do you feel about music, Fang? Do you have a favorite composer? Perhaps you could tell the others about the Baroque period, about how even the most gifted musicians can suffer. For instance, Bach, you think he had it all: talent, fame, a wonderful wife, children… and then his first wife dies, and his second wife follows, and eleven of his children all together. Think how torturous that must be, Fang, to be flying high and then suddenly, your family is shot dead. How would that make you feel?"

The comparison between the lives of Bach and ours was not missed by anyone, and soon it was not only Fang looking at Silverman as if imagining him roasting on a spit. Silverman leaned a little closer.

"Bach's family did not die of unnatural causes. But do not make the mistake that I will spare your family if they get in the way of what I want. You would do well to remind them of that."

For a moment, I didn't think Fang was going to respond. But then, quaking in fury, he spat "Go to hell" at the leering whitecoat. He held my hand, and I felt his tension, how his instincts were screaming at him to _runrunrun! _from this threat, but we stood strong. Silverman's lip curled, and he gestured for one of the EMs to come forward-but it didn't come to us. Instead to Nudge, who had no choice as he yanked her arms behind her back with one enormous arm, and hooked the other around her throat. She was incapacitated immediately. I swore, yanking on my chains and yelling at Silverman to tell them to let her go, and Fang stood behind me looking ready to start taking people out. We looked formidable, but Silverman just shook his head.

"We don't care about her. Not really. She doesn't have any useful talents, and you can be sure that if you don't cooperate, the one you call Nudge will no longer be living."

Nudge's dark face was determined, her mouth set in a grim line, and her eyes moved back and forth as if to say, No, don't do it, Max! But they were also scared. And no way in _hell _was I letting anything happen to Nudge. Not to my Lambie.

"What do you want, Doctor?" I asked, trying not to spit fire. "You haven't specified."

"Given our history, I'd like to start with Fang. You-unchain him, bring him over by the piano. If you act up, Fang, Nudge will be the first to die. Think of Bach. Mr. Batchelder, sit down or those scraps on the floor will be all that's left of your wife and child."

They took their places silently, although watching Fang limp from our corner to the center of the room was painful. Silverman pursed his lips, but didn't speak on it. For a moment, Jeb scooted over on the bench as if offering Fang a seat, but the look on my friend's face was so revolted that Jeb actually blushed, and Fang sat down with his back to the piano and his eyes on Nudge.

"Back to business. Mr. Batchelder, what songs do you know?"

Jeb did not seem to know how to answer the question, rambling in his haste to save his _family _about classics, some modern stuff, a little James Taylor, some Michael Jackson, Jeff Buckley… He even murmured the Taylor Twins, which made me feel sick to my stomach, because those were the songs we used to sing over the campfire while making s'mores in the backyard, even if I'd never heard the actual music that went along with the words.

"Do you know any of the listed music?" Silverman turned to look down at Fang, who twisted his shoelace with one finger, absently. Wishing he was anywhere but there. Even back in chains, I'd bet. He shrugged, which bothered Silverman, who nudged his injured with a foot. "Elaborate."

"I don't really know bands. Composers. Only songs." He offered in a noncommittal tone, as if everything he cared about wasn't at stake, like it just about was.

The EM trailed a claw down Nudge's throat. Beads of blood appeared. "You're going to have to do better than that."

Fang clenched his teeth, getting shakily to his feet and pacing pathetically with his limp.

"Buckley sounds familiar." He admitted, and with a nod from Silverman, Jeb's callused fingers began to dance across the keyboard into a tune that sounded almost familiar, like a dream I had forgotten long ago. Fang nodded, pausing in his pacing. "Hallelujah?"

Jeb nodded. Fang seemed to fight for a moment, then collapsed where he stood a few feet away from Jeb's piano bench. He looked to the whitecoat for instruction. All he said was: "Sing." Easy enough. Not. I knew how uncomfortable Fang was (though uncomfortable seems a really lame word, given the severity of the situation) between having to sing for people he hated and the price being Nudge's life, if he chose to disagree. There was no doubt in Silverman's eyes when he promised Nudge's death. Ironic, given my previous argument with him. Jeb began to play, somewhat rustily a first, and then when he began a count down, Fang started up.

His voice was soft, overridden by the loud speakers in the piano. I had no doubt in my mind that Jeb was a fair piano player, if I cared for such things, but it was Fang I cared about and Fang I listened to. The growling EMs fell silent. Iggy pricked his ears, frowning. Because this was not the euphonic voice I remembered, the quiet, reassuring tone that reached through my ears to my heart, as corny as that sounds. The thing about Fang's singing, is he only sings for people he really cares about. It's something very private he's only started doing very recently, but now he was furious at the world. So the words about some king composing hallelujah… did not go down so well. Yeah, it sounded great. Yes, I still died a little inside, but the whitecoat waved his hand and the music stopped.

"This is a terribly sad song, Fang. The singer has just had his heart broken." He said with reproach as if by singing with too much anger, he had failed some sort of test. "You don't sound sad. You sound like you'd like to rip my head off, for lack of better words."

Fang raised an eyebrow. A clear confirmation. Silverman sighed. What can I say? We birdkids are anything if not inconvenient.

"Start over. Close your eyes if you must. I want to hear this song and think that this is true, that whoever is singing this song is utterly miserable. Do you understand me?"

For a moment, Fang held his stare. And then the music began again. And it was beautiful. Not because it was flawless; there are trained singers and people who hum along with the radio, and sometimes he forgot words or disagreed with Jeb on which note to sing (he always won, Jeb pausing in the music to look at him, but Fang continued without him so he was forced to catch up). But because it was Fang and it was raw and untamed and heartfelt and genuinely tear-jerking. Mom was watching with a few streaming down her face as he sang, "Well, maybe there's a God above, but all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you."

And when he had sang the last "hallelujah," Silverman waved Jeb silent and gestured for Fang to return to his place and recuff his own manacles. Demeaning. Heart wrenching. But Nudge would be neckless otherwise.

"That's that." He said, brisk. "Your turn, Maximum."

There was a choking noise in Iggy's direction. I glanced away from Fang, hoping they hadn't grabbed him, too. But he was free, just standing and looking in Silverman's direction with incredulity.

"'That's that?'" He repeated.

Total continued, incredulous. "That was freaking _brilliant_ you nutjob."

Fang might have started to blush, peeking at Ig out of the corner of his eye, though he stood as tall as he could in his chains.

"Yeah, aren't we done now?" Gazzy joked. "No way can Max live up to that. She doesn't know how to sing. And don't even ask her to dance, man."

Truth.

"Well, if you're so against her," one of the EMs laughed and trotted over to grab at Fang. "We'll make him sing another!"

We all started arguing, but stopped when Nudge whimpered and Fang was pushed to the ground and his leg wound tore open and he began to bleed. And then something came into Fang's eyes, some grit found in a deep reserve, because he got to his feet and nearly hopped over to the piano.

"Goo Goo Dolls." He growled into Jeb's face. "Know 'em?"

Jeb did. Fang murmured the song name softly. Jeb started to play, and Fang did not sit down despite his wound. He pulled himself up as high and proud as he could, then looked Dr. Silverman in the eye and said.

"This is a hopeful song."

He looked away from Silverman as if unable to sing such a song in his presence, then he began.

As was his way, his tone was soft, but the words were sharp and pointed and full of meaning as he sang about how he didn't want designer love and empty things, just the chance that maybe we'd find better days. He sang about needing some place simple where we could live, and something only one person could give: faith and trust and peace.

And the part where I felt tears pressing against my eyes, tears I swallowed down just as quickly as they came, was when he looked right at me and continued with, "and the one poor child who saves this world, and there's ten million more who probably could, if we all just stopped and said a prayer for them." He sounded so defiant, so ready to fight on the savior's behalf, to take the world on his shoulders for whatever poor child had been damned with the responsibility. He didn't break away from my eyes while he vocally wished everyone was loved tonight, to somehow stop and end this fight, just the chance that maybe, we'd find better days.

He finished, took one look at Silverman, and just raised his chin, the very picture of defiance, and oh God, I wanted to hold him tight. But he stood there in his chains, pool of blood forming beneath his foot, and exactly as Ella had said: Bloody but unbowed. And… I was beyond touched. And beyond ready to get my family out of hell. Instead, in reality, it was my turn.

Gazzy's comment about my not knowing how to sing? Yeah, true. But according to the whitecoats, this doesn't matter even when you're singing (someone please explain that logic to me), but I wouldn't have left Fang stranded anyway. So, after quite a longer in-depth analysis of Jeb's repertoire, I ended on a song I knew only because I had sniped Ella's iPod once while Fang was sleeping. I couldn't just let Fang's songs fade away with a meager tune, I was going to show these whitecoats. I didn't know how to sing, and I sure as hell didn't know all the words. But I was angry, and anger can do wonders. But still-I was nervous. I was perfectly aware of the severity of our situation, of the cesspit we had fallen into, but get this: I was still deathly nervous of singing in front of anybody, even myself. I couldn't remember the last time I had sang with the intent to enjoy music, not just mocking Gaz and his Weird Al obsession or something. And I also have that obnoxious thing called pride where I can't take being bad at something. So what if I started singing, and the scientists were wrong and it turns out that they were wrong, I couldn't sing?

"Please, mutant, for the love of Jehovah shut up! Dr. Silverman, I believe I messed up these tests. Clearly this girl cannot sing."

And Silverman would just rub his ears and nod, and gesture for Iggy or Nudge to chant a little tune or whatever. But I had to give it a try. On my own terms.

I was on my feet, fists clenched and completely ready to piss somebody off. The EM moved forward to unchain me but Jeb held up a hand.

"Doctors, if I may advise you," he quavered. "Max has the temper of an atom bomb. I wouldn't-"

"Max knows that at the slightest provocation, we will kill her family, and then we will kill her." Silverman interrupted, meeting my eyes. I squared my feet. Going to kill us? Not on my watch. He clucked. "Max, I mean it. Sing or die. It's not a difficult choice."

"Doctors-"

"Mr. Batchelder, I would advise you to remain silent if you care about the fate of your family."

Silence. Nudge whimpered. Total echoed. I deflated.

"I'm not singing while _he _is playing the piano." I pointed at the lump of filth sitting on the bench and was pleased to see him wince. For a moment, Silverman debated whether or not to amuse me, but he nodded with a small smile and Jeb took his hands from the ivory keys.

"There will be no need to unchain the volatile mutant." Silverman assured his minion. "She will be singing from where she is, am I correct?"

"Heil!"

He pulled a face. "I do not appreciate Neo-Nazi terms, Maximum."

"Are we really going to get into a list of things we do and do not appreciate _doctor_? Because you'll be listening for a while. Besides-mass executions, racial slurs, cruel medical experiments… you and Hitler would have been chums if you'd been in Germany in the '40s."

His face darkened to a blotchy red, and Mom murmured something that sounded like a warning. But his words had reminded me of what I wanted to do, so I took a few moments to go over the music in my head and I began.

I sounded soooo nervous in the beginning. My voice had a little quaver, but by the time I got to "I'm through with doubt, nothing left for me to figure out, I've paid a price, and I'll keep paying," I was going strong. Ella loved the Dixie Chicks-especially really powerful songs like Not Ready To Make Nice. I knew most of the words, and when I didn't, I just sort of mumble-jumbled words that sounded right. I was surprised at how easily it all came, but looking back, I don't think I should have been. The writer of the song was furious-she had said something negative about a previous US President, and she received a lot of bad attention for it, from death threats to angry letters that parents had their third graders write. And she was telling these skeptics, these fools, that she wasn't going to back down no matter what they did to her, that she wasn't going to do what they wanted her to. I missed a few notes, and more than a few words, but by the end, I didn't think I had done too badly, and when I flicked a glance at Fang and saw him smiling his _You'll never top that, suckers! _smile, I breathed out. I had succeeded. And judging by the look on Dr. Silverman's face, he was royally ticked off. Mission: complete. He nodded to the EMs, who immediately began to drag Jeb and the piano away.

I sank to the floor next to Fang, who was gingerly placing his legs in front of him as if worried even sitting would cause his wounds to get words. He glanced at me and raised and eyebrow. _What's up?_

I hit the back of my head on the wall, looking upwards. "What do you think they're doing?"

His face had been concentrated on the task at hand before. Determined, if a little impassive. He kept any feeling bridled in, though I could tell what he was thinking, if only because it mirrored my thoughts. They would come back with guns and an audience.

"As long as it breaks the monotony." I shrugged, shifting a little closer. His lips twitched, but this time he allowed something to escape his well-constructed mask.

_As long as it's just us._

Yeah, true that. I took his hand from his knee, tracing the lines of his palm with my fingers. If I was right, and given the amount of times I had been threatened with death, I was 99.9% sure, I wasn't too panicked. As long as I could somehow make sure Fang and my mother and sister and the rest of my family got out okay, I'd face the gunfire and try as hard as I could to get myself out. But they came first. So for the time being, I was just drinking in Fang's presence, unsure of how this would turn out.

The thing about facing imminent death is everything just snaps into perspective. Like all the things I really cared about seemed ten million times more important. The little flecks of gold in Fang's eyes were a part of my heart. Light shining on Angel's angel curls was worth the world. Total's banter with Nudge was vitally important. And, call me a total sap, but it was these final minutes before the whitecoats returned in which my resolve was renewed. They had beat me down and chained me up and hurt the people I loved-and they were not going to get away with it. That much was definite.

I squeezed Fang's hand, and this action alone seemed to clue him in. His eyes settled, meeting mine, and he dipped his head. A whole conversation right there. We were agreed.

XXXXX

**I had a ton of notes I wanted to share… ARGH. Can't remember. Ah, well.**

**I JUST REMEMBERED SOME.**

**Okay, I need to get these chapters updated, so I can't respond individually but I want to thank you all just for reading, and for your amazing reviews. IWriteURead-thanks for checking up on that irritating TskTskTsk-I laughed when I read your review. And for the anon. reviewer who thought I needed a certain number of reviews to respond, not true. I just take forever to update-SORRY. **

**I love you ALL. Thanks so much. Enjoy these next two chapters **** I'M SO EXCITED. **

**OH YEAH. And I drew a picture of Stripes. Please check it out? I'll also post a link on my profile if that doesn't work.**

**http **colon **slash slash **ivyflightislistening** dot **deviantart** dot **com**/gallery/#/d37nt1s**


	58. Freedom

**Chapter Fifty-Eight**

Stripes was wheeled in on a mobile cart, stacked aboard two glass boxes, and heading the procession. On closer inspection, her crate was crowded with two smaller feline-humans that she was trying to shield with her skinny body. If any whitecoats came too closer, she snarled and swiped out at them between the bars. I presumed they were Mira and Lark-both similar to Stripes in that they had cat ears and whiskers and tails, but their faces were shaped a little differently, more like their cat counterpart, and their fur and skin patterns varied. Mira was part lion, I remembered, and Lark snow leopard. Stripes cast a quick smile our way when she bothered to notice us, but she was all about the hunt and the law of the wild, whether or not she was aware of her knowledge of it: kill or be killed. She was going on the former.

Following her, walking of her own free will with a knife strapped in her belt and a quiver and bow held tight to her back was Guinevere. Her blue eyes flickered, but she didn't allow any more recognition to show. She stood against the wall, between two armed EMs and Lamy, Roux, and Ruth. The two scientists were at it again, but about what I wasn't sure. Silverman came to the center of the room, and clapped once to get everyone's attention.

"You are all aware by now that our funds are low," he began a speech basically saying that the School had no room for uncooperative beings like us. If we did not agree to their terms, we would be eliminated. The others were all here to bear witness to what happened to rebels. Like us. I don't think the rest of my family had been aware of what was about to happen, save for maybe Iggy. But upon pronouncing that Fang and I were now slated for "retirement," there came forth a stream of protests and yells and the usual shenanigans until an EM held a gun in the direction of Angel's head. She pouted.

"We're leaving it up to you two." Silverman purred, turning toward Fang and I, sitting in the corner. "Who wants to go first?"

He found it amusing when we both said "Me!" at the same time, even laughing. We both had gotten to our feet, too. I paid no attention to the others, my mind just working furiously on getting out of this.

_Voice?_

Nada.

"It's up to me, then." Silverman murmured softly, moving close enough to hit, but I dared not, with the armed and ready EM. "Maximum. You are rude, headstrong, too forward for your own good, a juvenile, immature upstart, and completely unprepared to save the world. You are a waste of space. But Fang and I go way back. I used to get him to obey by injecting him with poisons when he disobeyed. For a while, he was docile. Until he met you, Maximum. Then you started implementing these crazy ideas in his head-that you both had a right to own your own lives, that you could be free people. Didn't I teach you anything, Fang? Different people never live long lives. Witch hunts. Genocides. If you wish to live long, you conform. You six never have. I spent so much time working on you, Fang. And then you toss my generous gifts away. I have reasons to choose both of you to die first, but if there's one thing you two have taught me, it is that there are worse things than death. You told that to me one time, Fang. You were six. How's this for worse than death, Fang?" Silverman paused, then continued with a leer. "I've seen how you look at the girl. I know what you think. What you feel. And _I _think that for you to have to watch her die in the most painful way possible would be very satisfying to make up for the amount of my time you have wasted. What say you to that?"

I remained nonplussed, but coming from his old torturer, Fang's mouth had gone dry and his eyes were fearful.

"Yes," Silverman laughed. "You love her, don't you? I always told you that love was a destructive force, Fang. You would not be here now if you had listened to me. Love is pain. And you are going to feel that in the next twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately, Maximum, you will never be around to see how this girl we have recruited is infinitely superior to you."

We'd get to Guinevere later. Twenty minutes? They weren't giving me a lot of time, were they? Given our previous escape records, I did not blame them. But my mouth was going pretty dry myself. This was cutting it close.

_Voice, I can't save the world if I'm dead._

It surprised me. _I can't get you out of this, Max. I'm not God. Good luck. Stay strong. And do not listen to Dr. Silverman. You love life, don't you?_

_ Most of the time._

_ Yes. You do. And you know what you told me onetime?_

_ Don't have _time _for this, Voice!_

_ You said your friends were your life. You love your life. You love your friends. Given how far you've gotten because of both, I'd say that Dr. Silverman is very wrong._

_ What? What do you mean? Voice!_

But he was gone, and faster than I could act, one EM had sidelined Fang, another unchained me, but held me in a bear hug so I was practically immobile, and the third slammed one of those glass crates down around me. I was completely trapped, save for a small hole in the glass above my head that I would hardly be able to fit my finger through. The EM let Fang go as soon as my nearly airtight canister had been pushed out of reach, and he was yanking at his chains with no regard to how much his leg was bleeding or the others, yelling and talking and pleading.

"You gave me the idea for this," came Silverman's voice, though I did not want to spend my time watching that thing any more than I wanted to sing along with Jeb's piano playing. I held Fang's eyes tight. _It will be okay. I won't let them do this. It will be okay. _"When we were talking about World War Two, and you said that people were killed because they were different. Well, Max has acted a little too rebelliously for my taste, and so we will execute her as they did then. With gas. First comes the clutching the throat, gasping for air, banging on the walls. Then they usually collapse, convulsing, and maybe twitching, too. Eventually they go still. We'll leave her in there a good ten minutes, just to be sure. How does that sound?"

_No. Fang. It will be okay. Shh. _But I was running out of hope myself, especially when a small tube that could only mean one thing was forced down the hole into my box. I banged. I hit it back. It made no difference. And then a fine mist began to gush down from the pipe, starting slowly but quickly engulfing the air. Already, I could smell it, feel it's burn in my nose and on my throat. It tasted foul. I backed as far away as I could, pounding on the plexiglass walls with all my might, throwing myself against them. In the back of my mind, I could hear Doctor Psycho and his analysis:

"There are a few steps to this process. Resistance, which we see here, then the coughing starts. The victim begins to asphyxiate, and eventually falls to the ground. They may lose consciousness and twitch, they often convulse. We'll leave her in the tank for a good ten minutes, to be sure the gas has done it's job. Then I'll let you have the body, Fang. Enjoy the show."

Bastard. If I wasn't already coughing my lungs out, my banging weakening, I would have snarled some sarcastic comment that I couldn't think of with my brain on fire, screaming for air. I felt my limbs weakening, unwilling to do what part of me ordered, and finally, they stopped. I must have a second mind or something, and it was telling me to curl up as far away from the pipe as I could, to grab at my throat with my hands. I couldn't breathe. Worse than pneumonia, my lungs would inhale, but it did no good. Oh, God, my head ached and pounded. I could do nothing, only gasp and fall and see nothing but the clouds of gas and darkness.

XXXXX

I did not know how it happened, only that suddenly, my skin was not on fire, and that there was an oppressive weight lifting on and off of my chest, making me gasp. _Stop! _I wanted to tell it. _I can't breathe! _ But… I could. I felt this realization before I felt it, and rolled to the side gasping for pure air. At the edge of my mind, I recognized people yelling and someone that sounded like Guinevere yelling, "You wanted a weapon? You've made yourself a weapon!" And then I was pushed further away from where the gas tainted the air, and strong, ropy arms wrapped around my shoulders.

I was still having trouble breathing. My eyes and nose streamed and I felt like someone had dropped a match and some lighting fluid into my lungs and air sacs, but gradually, I was able to recognize this familiar hold and Fang's scent and I collapsed gratefully into his chest. One hand stroked my hair back while the other caressed my face, and I felt his lips pressed to the crown of my head. He was shaking, pulling me back away from the center of the room. I blinked my eyes, looking up into his. His face, I reached out and touched it, still heaving with coughs, and he took my hand and held it to his face.

"Max," he whispered. "I need you to calm down completely. Just breathe. Do you understand?"

"How… the… hell…" I gasped, but he shook his head and looked back at the whitecoats. I turned. It looked like Guinevere had knocked out an EM, shot my crate open, and then tackled the other guards. She had pressed on my lungs to get oxygen flowing and pushed me towards Fang before two EMs restrained her. Now the furious whitecoat advanced towards us, but Fang was whispering in my ear, assurances and pleas and then snippets of song that he hummed. I was in no condition to fight, I just needed a minute, but it didn't look like Silverman was going to give us that. He had paused, but his eyes were widening in incredulity, furious, exhilarated, all at the same time. And then Fang yelled to Nudge, and I heard the metal manacles around his wrists and feet snap, and then he rolled with me across the room. It was a move we had practiced many times before, swiftly carrying an injured person away from the scene. But the catch? Silverman was just looking at where we had been, mouth dropped open. He whirled, looking all around the room, then ran to the EM and ordered one to drop Guinevere to the ground. All the others, about ten, reacted as if Tasered.

"_Where did they go? DAMN YOU! FIND THEM!"_

No. It wasn't possible. But all the same, I looked down at myself to see… nothing.

Holy –insert exclamations of choice here-

Fang could go invisible. I knew that. But he was holding me upright, and I was invisible, two. I felt his breath on my ear.

"Ready?"

I felt sick to my stomach, and rather like heaving all my innards out onto my sneakers. My head felt like Fang looked after Ari pounded him into the rocks on that beach. My limbs were shaky and quaking.

"You betcha."

Fang and I have been fighting alongside each other for as long as I can remember. You looked behind me and there he was defending my back, and I his. We had fought in synchronization so many times that it was near effortless now, to duck and weave and throw punches at the EMs and allow Fang to hit Silverman square in the chest and send him cartwheeling across the room, hitting the opposite wall with a dull _thud_ that I could not hear over the roar in my ears, the howls of EMs, the yells of the Flock, Stripes, my mother and sister, and Guinevere spitting insults as she took out a few of her own. I found that we had to maintain contact, but this was easy. We would duck, roll, spin, and occasionally I was viewed, but I would disappear again as quickly as my hand found his.

I felt like I had been hit my a cement truck. But it was _amazing_. That is, until one EM finally landed a paw on Fang, yanking him out of my grip and flinging me away. Fang returned to visibility, no doubt trying to minimize attention on me, but was now held in a chokehold with a revolver pressed underneath his chin.

I hit the wall with a thud of my own, and something in my still-healing legs (thanks, Shelob!) cracked. I barely held back a howl, falling to the ground with starbursts of pain. But I saw this unfold and could not let it happen. I was exhausted, in so much pain I couldn't even believe it, but… no. This wasn't happening. I lurched toward a fallen EM, grabbing the revolver at his chest and aimed it at the back of the EM holding Fang and growling, "say goodbye, mutant!"

I did not hesitate, setting off a volley of shots that only ceased when I believe I ran out of ammunition. The EM seemed to jump, his body twitching in a grotesque dance as he fell to the ground, Fang pulling away. He landed with a stunning finality, the last of our enemies to stand. I gasped, dropping the gun to the floor. I hate guns. _Hate _them. Given the amount of time they had been pointed at my Flock and me, I have a reason to. One thing I hate more is using them. It was atrocious that people owned these, carried them in their pockets in the streets, these disgusting dealers of death.

Lamy had stopped the flow of gas from the contraption with the pipe that had been fitted to the top of the plexiglass crate. Roux and Ruth were unconscious on the floor. Fang alone stood among the carnage, as G had backed up and started fiddling with the lock on Stripes, Mira, and Lark's cage. He was pale, face haunted and covered in grime. That had been much too close. He was watching me, too, and in a heartbeat that I hardly recognized, we were in each other's arms. We were gasping for air and coughing and even laughing a little, and he kissed my forehead again before moving toward the other cages. We had them sprung in an instant, and there was a brief little hug-fest and then Guinevere was standing there, looking like she was thinking something through very deeply.

Stripes was already fiddling with the door and growling at the Klaxon that had sounded sometime during the fight, but I only registered now. My palms itched. We had to get moving. But, of course, escape is never that easy, even if _that _had been anything but easy. Because Guinevere was in back, near where Dr. Silverman had landed. I only noticed this when she screamed, an ear-piercing anguished sound that made even the alarm sound tame. I whipped around, prepared to see barbed wire ropes digging into the palms of her feet or something, but instead there was just a very weak and not completely conscious Silverman plunging a needle into her leg.

Fang murmured an expletive, darting forward to grab her as she fell, already writhing with whatever fluid they had injected into her. Silverman was laughing, blood bubbling from his mouth.

"What did you do to her?" He demanded, not with words, but by picking the scientist up by the collar and pushing him against a wall. Silverman was actually happy to oblige.

"You didn't think a mere human could measure up to you six?" He croaked, grinning like the Joker. "No. Already, her DNA is unraveling. Approximately three percent of-"

He was obviously going off on a long, sciency rant, but not only did we not have the time, but Fang was at his wits end. He narrowed his eyes at the scientist, who only now seemed to realize he was completely defenseless.

"If we weren't in a hurry," Fang hissed. "I would carry you into the desert, take a knife to your leg, and leave you hundreds of miles from any civilization. For now this will have to do."

He was stuck with spending a precious few seconds by knocking the scientist out and leaving the body by the machine that had been pumping gas into my lungs. Lamy had turned it off, but the area stank. I looked to the Lamster, wondering if we should take him out, but just as this thought crossed my mind, I felt a cool hand on my wrist. Mom.

"Farewell, Dr. Ts'ai." I nodded. "Don't cross us again."

He unfolded a note from his pocket, a map of the building, and mom took it from his hand. I wasn't that forgiving. "I'm heading to the airport. Good luck, Max."

And then we were gone.

Thanks to Lamy, we made it out of the building okay. Stripes was up front, bounding along at inhuman speeds. She had tried carrying her kittens by their scruffs, but mom had grabbed one and Iggy the other. Fang was still supporting a writhing Guinevere, and Angel held Total tight to her chest. It was only when we made it into the glaring desert sun and the lovely, magical fresh air of the parking lot that the gunfire started. Ella screamed, and Iggy shoved her behind a truck. Mom was all business, making sure everyone was lying flat on the baking pavement as she clambered into a van and pushed the sliding side door open.

"_Get in!" _She yelled, the kids hopping in first, then Ig and Ella, and Fang was pushing Guinevere in. I swore, seeing Stripes staring entrancingly at the sun, tears streaming from her golden eyes, and pushed the lot of them inside even as mom was screaming out of the parking lot. It was a storage van, with no seats in back, and all of us were bouncing around completely uncontrolled, banging into walls and hitting each other. Mom made as if to slow down, but I shrieked at her to keep driving. Horns blared. They were giving chase. I latched onto the back of the driver's seat and looked into the rearview mirror. Yep.

"I'm going to have to fly us! Keep driving, no matter what! I'll come back for you!" I yelled, the only tone that seemed appropriate. She yelled something back, but I was already snatching Guinevere from Fang, who had pressed himself into a corner. The others managed to find holds, whether it was each other or parts of the car.

"I'm going to superspeed everyone to the hawk cave!" I told them. "I'll come back! Stick together! Fang, you're in charge. Give me Guinevere, and Mira, Lark, come here!"

But Stripes wouldn't go without them, and it was only wasting time. She roared something, but I had already stuffed my arm through Lark's belt and pulled Guinevere to my chest, and then I opened the sliding door and rolled out, snapping my wings to full length and taking to air as fast as possible.

From there it was a death race. Wind peeled at my face. Lark was screaming. Guinevere was screaming. I nearly collided with the rocky wall, but superspeed is, well, _superspeed_, and I managed to take the hit with my back, and we skidded to a halt in the cave. Tears were flooding from Lark's eyes, but I set him down carefully and looked deep into his eyes-the color of mercury, just like Stripes had said.

"Lark, listen to me. I'm a friend of Stripes. This is the outside. You're free. I'll be back soon, but I need you to take care of this friend in the meantime. Do you understand? Stay back here, in the shadows, and don't let her hit her head on any rocks, okay?"

He was still sobbing, but you toughen up at the School, and he nodded. And then I was gone. This time it was Stripes and Mira who were rocketed to the hawk cave, and I yelled at the others to get mom and Ella into the air ASAP.

I do not know how I did it. My lungs burned, and my wings felt like leaden blocks, but I managed to get the two cat mixes to Lark and Guin, then I was heading back. I was unsure of why I could carry bigger weights while going my maximum speed. Jeb had tried explaining it onetime, but as with most things he told to me these days, it had gone in one ear and out the next. Mom and Nudge were next, and even Nudge's little wings were enough to help propel us forward. As with the others, we skidded to a halt and fell to our knees, but I had already rotated around and was zipping back to the others. Ella, Gaz, little Angel, and her mutt made it to the cave in one piece, though they had been under fire when I left. This had all taken between five and ten minutes, and that can be forever when you're flying as fast as you can and dodging bullets and winged monsters, like I knew Fang and Iggy would be doing. Fang's wing was still torn up from the shark attack, and both were hardly at their prime.

I hate time. And most of all, I hate racing it.

I saw the fight from miles away. Fang was speed flying as fast as he could while still letting Ig get ahead, but the others were catching up. He darted in and out of invisibility, but you can bet that any modern air creature the School created would have a little something called radar, along with their guns. If you can skid to a halt in midair, I did, slowing to normal speeds in a few heartbeats and taking out the closest EM. Without stopping to think, I zipped toward Fang, wrapped my arms around his chest, slammed into Iggy, and I had one arm hooked around his waist, then poured on the speed.

I was so, so tired, and if the landing had been rough before, it was nothing compared to this. Maybe I could have chosen a grassy field as our meeting point, but a little late for that. Instead, we slammed into the cave floor on our sides, the rocks and dirt ripping at our arms and backs. I don't remember the details clearly, like the moment your car crashes into another and slides into a river. Things whirred past me and only when we had come to a full and complete and painful stop did I manage to breathe.

My eyes were closed, my chest heaving. My flock members had been thrown free. And once I had caught my breath, I was terrified that this had all been a dream, that we were still stuck inside. But then I felt a presence above me, thankfully not touching my _verrry _bruised ribs, and my eyes flickered open.

His face was gaunt, torn and bleeding. He had a cut from above his nose across his swollen eyelid and down his cheek, like Scar in _The Lion King_. But his one open eye was bright, so dark and yet so bright. Bright with freedom.

"We did it." I whispered, feeling the hard rocks beneath my body, the knot in my head. "We're free."

He nodded, seemingly at a loss for words, and then he was grinning and he pulled me up and leaned his forehead against mine and he was hugging me and I was soaking in his presence and brushing his dirty, matted hair with one hand while looking out at the others.

We were all on various levels of scruffy to filthy to seriously injured. Mom was a little battered, but otherwise okay as she spoke quietly with Mira and Lark and Stripes, and Iggy and Ella looked a little more rough for the wear, having slammed into the rocky floor. Nudge and the siblings were okay, and Total was barking and howling about how that was _"BRILLIANT!" _but Nudge was worried.

"Max. C'mere, it's, I think it's the girl."

Fang and I untangled ourselves and moved to Guinevere, who had been lain in the very back of the cave. They had evidently tried to comfort her, piling soil on a flat rock for a pillow, but it was scattered and smudged across her ashen face. She was past screaming, her eyes shut tight as she moaned and interchangeably yelled nonsensical words and phrases. Mom was working on the others, determining that she could not do much for the girl besides keep her comfortable for the time being. She had Fang and I on that job.

"Her DNA." Fang murmured, touching her arm tentatively. Guin did not register the feeling, still writhing. "What…"

"They must have done lots of tests." I croaked, trying to restrain her before she hit her head on a rock. "He was clearly ready to do so, you know? I wish we had water or something for her… what do you think she'll be?"

He shook his head, at a loss, but still fiercely determined to help this poor, poor girl. I had told him what we had talked about that day so long ago, when she told me about pneumonia and King Arthur. His face had darkened, but he had known it was truth. The School was definitely not above such threats. But why was this girl special? What did they want with her? Evidently a mix-DNA warrior that they could raise and then mutate. Not very cool beans.

Eventually, Guinevere stopped twitching and hunched over in fetal position. She was lengthening, her joints popping as she grew at this accelerated rate. One of my Flock came up behind me and wrapped skinny arms around my shoulders.

"Hey, Ang." I whispered, taking her hand and squeezing.

"I'm glad you're okay, Max." She murmured. "We were really scared. Do you think she will be?"

"I'll make sure she will be." I offered. Guinevere-whoever she was-had saved my life, and probably Fang's and those of my Flock along with it when she broke my cage and gave Fang and I our chance to fight. I didn't forget things like that. "I promise."

In the meantime, Ig and mom made the rounds, making sure we were all healthy. Fang and I were the worst, aside from Guin, though she said we were all suffering from severe malnutrition and PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. None of us had heard about it, which surprised her, since she said that we were all obvious cases. The name basically explains it, but she said it's very common with war vets or people who do search and rescue. Dreams, or more aptly, nightmares, terrifying hallucinations, paranoia, and other very Flock-like symptoms are common for PTSD. Fun fact. Ella was a little shaky, but she was talking to Stripes and crew about where we were, what had happened, what this meant for them. It may sound very simple, but for people that have spent their entire lives in the same building with only fables of another place to go off of, our adventure was a lot to swallow. I was just glad that no territorial hawks were there to fight us for the resting place. We had no water, save for a small, clear pool in the back of the cave. I was so, so thirsty, but mom ordered us not to touch it. Seeing all our skinned knees and hands, the grit and blood mixing together, she amended this rule so that she could wash our wounds. But still no drinking.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. I sat by Guinevere through the night with Fang by my side. The others fell asleep quickly and deeply, though mom stayed up and sat watch by the front of the cave and insisted we call her if we needed her. We were all in need of a good rest, but I did not know if I would be able to. The memories were all too fresh, and I still felt weak after my time in the gas chamber. For the majority of the time, we were silent, until the sounds of Guinevere's whimpering grew too much to bear around midnight.

"Hey, Fang?"

He raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch, a physical, hey, Max?

"Thanks. For the song."

His eyes softened the slightest, and that was all the response I expected to get, but evidently, no matter how screwed up we were, our freedom was getting to all of us.

"You chose a good one."

I rolled my eyes. "Iggy says that he thinks they cloned me for that part of it." But this made Fang shake his head. I glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, but he didn't respond. "C'mon!" I protested. "What were you going to say?"

After a moment of my badgering, he gave in, though he was very dark about it. "I never forgot." He muttered, shooting me a pretend-angry look.

I snorted. "Since when have I ever sang?" I interrogated him, making as if to jab him in the ribs, but we were both too sore.

"Since Angel needed lullabies. Before they started beating you when you did."

_I _remembered that much. And I remembered why we like music, too. The Flock-we're not going to Berkely or any big music schools. We're never going to learn any musical instruments. But onetime, after a happy night of s'mores and Taylor Twins, Fang and I had been sitting in the yard and watching stars and I asked if he liked the sing-a-longs, even if he didn't really participate. After some hesitation, he had nodded, and I bothered and nagged until he told me why.

"They can't take music away." He had said. "You can always sing."

I thought of that now and looked up at his bruised face. "Remember when we answered those questions on your blog?"

It didn't take him a millisecond to guess where I was going and to pull a face. "We are _not _starting a band. Especially not a country one called Death Screams Loudly of Love or whatever I said."

I just laughed and leaned up to kiss his cheek, then settled in against his shoulder.

"We still have to help all these people." I whispered, taking in Guinevere and the three cats, curled up next to each other in the corner, and Ella resting on Iggy's shoulder, and the rest of my family.

"Yep."

"And we still have to figure out those pictures." I continued.

He nodded.

"And we have to save the world."

"Yep."

"And figure out what to eat for breakfast."

"Very important."

"And make sure we don't get caught."

"Mmhm."

"And figure out who this girl is."

"_And _what they wanted with her."

"And you have to update your blog, seeing as they probably all think you're dead by now."

"Probably."

We had already tapped fists that night, as we did every night no matter what. But I held out mine for him anyway, and he sort of smiled as he tapped again. I had questions-like how he had made me go invisible, too-but I doubted that he knew himself, and we had plenty of time. So for a while, we allowed ourselves to just sit in relative calm, just basking in the thoughts that we were alive. We were together. We were _free_.

XXXXX

"Damn."

"Should have expected it, the psycho nutcases."

"It's called _personal space_." Guinevere huffed, but for all her half-irritated voice, I could tell how scared she was. She was still wincing and really sore and hardly able to move, but guess who now sported a new pair of grey, Hedwig-esque wings? Yeah. I don't know if the whitecoats did it to mess with me or because of their whole saving the world scheme, but it certainly succeeded in both, if the birds in my apocalypse visions were anything to go by.

"Mira, Lark-leave the girl alone." Stripes reprimanded, swatting them with her tail as they kept sniffing at the white feathers. They complained, but obliged, leaving just mom, myself, Fang, and the flock around her. Mom was helping her move to make her more comfortable, leaning up against the wall. She sighed, a sound of relief.

"Thank you, Dr. M. And the rest of you. For getting me out of there."

"Hey, we're square." I flashed her a smile. "Besides, you could be saddled with worse. Imagine being part crocodile?"

Nudge made an "eew" face.

I made the others back up a little so that we weren't all crowding Guin and messing with her comfort zone, but made sure we were all-thirteen? We had certainly expanded-accounted for. I tried not to think about it. But we had to get down to business.

"Okay." I clapped my hands together, getting everyone to look at me. Come to think of it, given the amount of grime covering my face, may not have been a good thing. I tried not to think about this, either. "So, kudos for escaping."

There was some cheering, Stripes and crew's great, big smiles just about made my day. "But, hate to say this, we're not quite home free yet. Obviously, we're all kinda beat up-"

"Really?"

"Iggy, shut up before I _make _you." I said, remembering he couldn't see my Death Glare. Fang has been my unknowing instructor, and though I've got nothing on his, mine is pretty primo. Too bad it was wasted on the Igmeister.

He looked about to snipe something from his seat next to Ella, but mom butted in. "Kids…" She warned.

"As I was saying. We've gotta scoot as soon as we're able, but I'm thinking this might be later than sooner. Only six-" Total _wruff_ed indignantly. "Seven." I amended. "Can fly. With potential for an eighth. That's out of thirteen, right? So I think those are prime numbers so we can't exactly get an easy fraction out of it, but _anyway_, I'm saying getting out of here might be a little tough. You can't climb down these cliffs, unless…" I paused, seeing Lark's hand (paw?) go up like a normal third grader answering a question in a normal classroom. "Yes?"

"I can. Like, it's really hot. But this is what I was built for. If that helps."

"It might." I admitted. "What about you two?"

Stripes and Mira shook their heads. "We can climb trees," Stripes said. "But nothing of this scale. I don't think. Leopards and lions aren't built the same way that Snow Leopards are."

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to stay here for a while. We're far from any scientists and well hidden. But we need food, water, and proper medical care would… be…" I had to break off and spend a few moments hacking my lungs out before I could continue. "Useful. So I was thinking that maybe two of us could head out. Either forage something in the desert or find an E-Z-Mart or something. In the meantime, I guess we need some major recuperating, and Guinevere, I think we should teach you to fly as soon as possible."

If she had been drinking something, she would have sprayed it all out of her mouth in surprise. As it was, her jaw just dropped, and she had some trouble replying.

"Well, you have there a nice pair of wings." I reminded her. "You're from Maine, right? You will get home much faster if you can fly. Now-any volunteers?" I looked to my Flock.

"You, Fang, and Iggy are much better than any of us." Nudge said.

"Yeah," Gaz chipped in. "Since you taught us, you'd be better at teaching her, I think." Angel nodded, but Iggy cleared his throat.

"It'd better be one of you two," he admitted. "I can't very well point out things she's doing wrong, can I?"

"I'll teach her!" Total had jumped to Angel's laugh. Crickets. And then we all burst into laughter, and he retreated and was probably so thankful he had fur so we couldn't see him blush. Angel was grinning, but she gave him a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you for the offer, Total." Guin smiled. "But I think our wings are set up a little differently. What works for you may not work for me."

See the difference between me and people raised in civilization? They shoot people down kindly. I just looked to Fang, who gave a miniscule, one-armed shrug.

"You have a preference, Shark Bait?"

"Not really, Speeding Bullet."

I tried not to smirk. Teaching people to fly is slow, dull, work. "Looks like you just signed up."

Had Guin not been there, he probably would have flipped me off or something. Had my _mother _not been there. As it was, he just shot me a _very funny _look and glanced at Guin.

"Afraid of heights?" He asked, nonplussed. I could tell he was still slightly unsure of what to make of her and, until he was, would be treating her with indifference. She narrowed her eyes.

"No."

"You guys are off to a great start."

Fang ignored Ella, as did Guinevere.

"Once that is taken care of," I continued. "We need to bring mom and Ella somewhere safe. Do you have any relatives?"

"Max-" mom began but I interrupted, a rarity when dealing with my mom.

"No. They got you once, and you saw how bad that is. Give them a while, then go home. I can't… I can't afford to let them get you."

"Why?" Ella persisted stubbornly, pushing away from Iggy and crossing her arms. "Max, we want to help! You can't just send us away. We can fend for ourselves."

"No, you can't." I hated crushing my spirited sister. _Hated _it. But… but if they were captured and held ransom for me and my Flock… I did not know what I would do. Ella and mom over the Flock in captivity? It was an unanswerable question. "Do you remember anything? Or did I hit your head when we landed?"

"Max-"

"Girls, cool down." That was mom. "Max, I know you're worried. But Angel has assured me that the School will not find us, and she read minds while there: they have no desire to use us. We're too noticeable. They would leave us alone."

"They can cause accidents-"

"Max. I have survived two kidnappings. Ella is tougher than you think. We may not be genetically enhanced, but we do have contacts, and I need you to trust us. We can't just get up and leave Arizona. Besides, I have a proposition."

I felt Fang's hand brush my knee. _Calm down_ he was saying. That was likely. But I allowed mom to continue.

"Stripes, Mira, and Lark have nowhere to go. They would only weigh you six down. If they came to live with Ella and I, we could homeschool them, teach them about the world outside of the School, and disguise them as foster children. They would get fresh air and plenty of food. How about it, guys?"

Stripes hesitated. She had grown up with adults double and triple crossing her. Although Lark and Mira, maybe a little younger than Angel, I'd guess, had immediately latched onto all of us, Stripes was my equivalent. They would do nothing without her. But they didn't have an E house to go to-they had my mother's, which was already known by the School and my enemies and in no way could I allow it.

"You don't have to decide now," she continued. "But I'd like you to consider it."

"They could come live with me and my family in Maine." Guinevere offered, but that was also shot down. Although I didn't voice all my concerns to her, I did not know her family. I hardly knew her. And I wasn't allowing Stripes and her kittens to disappear again.


	59. Stardust to Remember You By

**Greetings, friends, and welcome to… dun dun duh dun! Chapter fifty-nine! Quickie notes:**

**-The songs that Fang and Max sang were these: Hallelujah (done by multiple artists, but my favorites are by (#1) Jeff Buckley and (#2) Rufus Wainright), Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls, and Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks.**

**-I'm writing another MR story! Not a major one, like this, but I'm working on it a **_**lot **_**and so hopefully that'll be up by the end of the school year. There's letters, pictures, mothers, sugar cookies, zombies, vampires, Leonardo di Caprio, and Mr. Darcy. As a quick sneak peek. Oh! Are my eyes deceived by some god or trick of the light? Could that be… fax, too? You guys will have to check it out. Forgive me the advertising.**

**-Newsflash: This is NOT my favorite chapter. But I did manage to stuff some hopefully entertaining Flock-like stuff in, along with references to Johnny Depp. I would really appreciate the reviews anyway. I don't know how many of you read this story/this author's note, but the story is turning away from the hang-at-the-Martinez's deal, so I want to hear what you guys think! And definitely tell me if you want to see a little more of something.**

**-Does anyone out there take more than one language at a time/know multiple? I take Latin and French, but next year I'm thinking of taking up Spanish, too, and I was wondering if you have any input, like if you guys have tried that and three is really super hard, or once you get to two it's all the same, etc. I'll probs take it anyway, but some heads up will be nice.**

**-Dude. This is, like, a record for me, for three chapters up so fast. And I'm working on the next.**

**Reviewers! My lovely, sainted, amaaazziing reviewers. So many, I haven't responded since chapter 56! Okay.**

-This goes back to Jan. 12th, but hey, Goddess of the Flock! I'm so glad you liked the chapters, and I hope you appreciate Stripes in these coming chapters. Don't worry, she won't be forgotten. And THANKKK YOOUUU. My writing is really deteriorating with all these extended thanks, but it's GREAT. You always leave such great reviews.

-Yreava, it's heartening to see a familiar face when I check for reviews :) thanks so much for all you do! I'm glad you like the story. And the multiple reviews? -squeals in delight- enjoy!

-Serein-I'm glad you like Guinevere! She and Stripes are my first real OCs, and I hope they turn out okay. And thanks so much for always reviewing, and I'm reallysuperhappy that you liked the chapter, it's been building for two years, I kid you not. And yeah, pneumonia? Got it right after I'd recovered from the swine flu. Plus side? Leverage with my brothers to get whatever I wanted/watch what I wanted, and in the hospital, they had _HP and the SS _on DVD (ours broke) so I was like, YESSSS! And thanks :) I try really hard to get my facts right, if only for my own obsessive tendencies-haha.

-turtlelover0511-AHH. I love your reviews. They humble me. And make me smile. And I love them. Have I mentioned that? It bears saying again. You ROCK. I'm glad it turned out okay and that the suspense worked out, but yeah, me kill Fang? He's like, one of my favorite characters, for a number of reasons. 'Cause he's so totally deep, even though he locks everything down thanks to La School Masters de Hell. Do you like anime? There's this thing I found, a story of sorts, in illustration, which is FREAKING. AMAZING. And the main character reminds me a lot of him-and even if you don't read anime; I highly suggest that you check it out. The story is beautiful and heartbreaking and brilliant and true. And the characters are hilarious. And amazing. Note to self: invest in a thesaurus.

http **semi colon slash slash **yuumei **dot **deviantart **dot **com **slash **art **slash **Knite-Chapter-1-151132545?q=&qo=

It's brilliance.

-more brilliance? Your multiple reviews. Love them. Thank you so, so much, and I really am happy that you like them. I grinned like a madman when I first saw your review-I feel so complimented and appreciative and humbled and bashful a lot of other stuff I've said but I'm bad at sharing my emotions, so basically, you knock my socks off. Thank you for your dedication, your care about this story, your awesome reviews, everything!

-IwriteUread, your reviews are great, and it makes me so, so happy that you like my story so much! It's very… humanizing. Like, I just write because I love to, but I love that you like it so much. And as for how I come up with this? I'm a dreamer who hasn't accepted reality. Come try it with me?

-and then IwriteUread again because of your awesome multiple reviews. They were worth it? I'm glad-figured it was time for the Flock to blow that joint. I think the story will be extended for a while yet for a cross country Flock mini mission, and I believe the sequel will be actually getting to saving the world. And thanks for getting on top of TskTskTsk-really frustrating. Like, I don't mind critique, but let's be honest, you know? Like, if you think I have a ton of spelling errors (I do) then freaking mention it, don't be passive aggressive. Judging by your review, you totally understand :) And I sent you a PM about _ANGEL _incase anyone reading this hasn't read it yet… my mother bought me a hardcopy. I need to reread it after I reread _FANG _once my friend gives it back… thanks again!

-PassWrit11, I'm so glad you've read this! I totally know the feeling, and then when you get to the end you're like, _Whaatt? Give me more! _I read an _HP _fanfic like that. I really appreciate your review, that you think I can write, (and that you managed to get through the first fifteen or so chapters, which I really need to redo) but yeah, me, kill Fang? No. Never. I don't think I could kill any of the Flock, but if it had to be someone… I just won't go there. Haha. I'm working on the Eggy, there's an _eensy _bit in this chapter, but I have some plans for their future, as well. And again, thanks so much, your review makes my day every time I check back to reply to people and I see yours! But gods, the tiger shark part was soo much fun to write. But also terrifying, because I was afraid I wouldn't get it across the right way… I'm not really into swimming with sharks.

-UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND, yeah, I read a short story about tiger sharks, (it was a collection of shark-based horror stories. Bad idea.) and a tiger shark was a pretty central theme. Originally I was gonna go with the Great White, but A. what if it was Bruce? And B. totally cliché. But thanks for the review, and Fang was definitely going to need some patching up.

-heya, your review actually _finally _provoked me into cramming out the end and updating. I'll never specify reviews, but they so, so totally rock my socks off, so sorry about the confusion, but I'm glad you like it. Thanks for reading!

.forever, uhh… thank you? –blushes furiously-I don't know what to do about you guys. Your review was GREAT and I am equally happy that you love my story, but I'm so, so humbled and thankful and appreciative of what you said. It really means a whole lot, esp. when I have writers block or am trying to write something just right… my updates may take freaking f-o-r-e-v-e-r, but it's reviews and readers like you who make me feel guilty enough to update, haha. Enjoy!

-Elise The Amazing, comparing me to Saint Fang? I'm so, so complimented. She's an amazing writer. I have my own bad spots, and I really need to change some things because I feel bad that Fang has avian flu in my story, because I realized that she totally copyrighted that idea. I didn't copy, though I have read it, it's a long story involving my nurse practitioner mother, but anyway. I'm so glad you like the story, and reviews like yours make me smile. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this next chapter! And you reviewed twice! Awesome. Sorry about the wait-as per usual-but I seem to be getting on the stick. After 59 chapters… kittens are wonderful. I love kittens :)

-XxWisihingForWingsxX, can I express my gratitude for your reviews and reading in words? No? -hands over virtual chocolate chip cookies. Homemade.-

-Horsekid, hey, thanks! I'm glad you like it!

-skullduggery, yeah, it takes me ages to update. Apologies. I'm working on that, er, quirk of mine. Quirk's a nice word for it. But thanks for the review and your thoughts, and yes, chapter 60 (already partially written) as some of Ella's friends, and they'll come back. It's so great when reviewers share what they like/dislike/want, thank you!

**Chapter Fifty-Nine**

I love food. And fresh water. But I think I love food more. Yeah, the desert rat was a little stringy, and the cactus fruits were a little less than primo, but I ate as much as I could with twelve other starving people. Then I napped a little, and ate some more. That's basically how the morning went after Fang and I perused the desert, snaring a few rodents that we got Lark to chase out of holes and filling our backpacks with any forgeable plants. But all the same, it was the food of the gods, because we had found it, and we had cooked it, and nobody was taking it from us. Of course, Mira, Lark, and Stripes made the cooking thing a little easier by downing their food raw-and leaving nothing but bones and scraps of fur, I kid you not-so we didn't have to cook quite so many. There was an array-your traditional desert rat, two hares that were more bone than flesh, and some other critters that Fang and I cooked on our day-long excursion so that Angel's eyes couldn't brim over with tears as she named each of the dead things and offered to bury them when we were done.

All the same, Guinevere was sort of a blessing/curse when we found out…

"I'm, uh, well, I'm a vegetarian. Sorry. I'm fine with the fruit, though." She muttered, clearly embarrassed about her… handicap? Was that the right word?

Iggy choked. "You're _vegetarian_?"

"How do you live?" Moaned Gazzy.

She pursed her lips, and her answer was a little snide. "Somehow I get by knowing that I haven't caused anybody to die or rainforests to be chopped down for the sake of a McBurger."

"Rainforests?" Asked Nudge, who is a big fan of rat a la mode as long as she didn't see the body, and was gnawing on a leg bone. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there are the big, corporate companies who just fell acres of rainforest-which has a system, by the way, to fertilize it's own soil-so after three or so years of abusive cattle farming, the soil is completely dead and they have to go chop down _more _forest for their cattle and grain. Not to mention the transport required, and the fact that many of these big companies are hardly kind their animals. It's sickening, what they do."

"It's sickening when I don't get enough to eat." I muttered, but I think only Fang heard. Guinevere had a point-I had heard about how vegetarianism was actually better for the environment, but given that I was devoting my entire freaking existence to save the world, I figured that if I needed to stop in at a KFC for some good ol' corporate chicken to make sure my family didn't starve to death, I would do so. Saving the animals would come after saving the world. And depending on how many people ticked me off in the process, before saving any of the people.

I had freaked out a little when I realized that I would have to leave to get some food. Fang and I argued it out until I finally amended that _maybe _we'd find more with two people looking. Eventually, I made sure to point out I was only being logical and he had in no way won the fight. All the same, I think I scared away half the game by worrying aloud and not being careful. But I returned the next morning to find everyone in one piece and Iggy keeping watch, with Ella snoozing at his side. He had one wing wrapped around her. It had been kind of adorable, actually.

Beside me, Fang brushed his slightly greasy hands on his pants and pushed the remains away towards our small fire pit. It was the beginning of our third day in the hawk cave, and if the hawks had any thought of returning, I'm pretty sure just the scent of our motley crew would deter them. He looked across at Guinevere, who was doodling pictures in the dirt with one finger. She must have felt his eyes, because she looked up.

"What?" She was wary.

"Ready to fly?"

She still seemed very nervous, but there was no mistaking the excitement in her eyes. "Yes. I think so. I'd like to. Always have. I mean-not always want _this _but, like, Peter Pan. You know? Should I practice something first, like wind movements or…" Guinevere was one of those people who talked when they were nervous. She and Fang were going to get along marvelously. He waited for her to finish, and I could nearly feel his excitement to get into the air again as he got to his feet. The rest of us cleared out of the way and moved to the front of the cave. Something in Fang's expression-the slightest twitch at the corner of his eye?-it was too minute to tell, but there was something that made me sense this would not be the way Jeb taught me to fly, and I the rest of the Flock.

He got to the front of the cave, gesturing her forward until she was on the edge, looking far down. I glanced once at Stripes, who was exposing sharp vampire canines with a grin and watching her old friend with admiration. He unfolded his wings, a velvety dark color that was almost purple in the sunlight.

"Rule number one." He said softly. "You need wings. Unless you're Peter Pan."

"Right." She blushed and clumsily unfolded hers, which were a little shorter than mine, but broader. In her transformation, she had grown a few inches, but she was still shorter than me. The rest of us pushed to the side of the cave, allowing Fang to stride around her silently, and in some place gently pull at a certain part of her appendages to help her expand them. When he had deemed her in a well enough position to catch the wind, he gestured for her to fold them up again. She did so, then he had her reopen them. Closed them once more. She was almost ready to say something when he came very close to the edge and gestured her forward. I could hear her breathing catch, and this time she unfolded them by herself.

"What now?" She asked.

He turned, _almost _smiling. "Jump." And that's what he did, bunching his legs underneath him before hurling out into empty space. As finely tuned as any instrument, his dark wings twisted effortlessly to spin him around so he could see the cave. He was smiling now. The lunatic. I hoped the sun wasn't so bright that he couldn't see the look I sent his way. We were not trying to scare Guinevere away.

She was hesitating, looking at the ground so, so far below. He visibly sighed and came back, touching down soundlessly and then reaching out to touch her arm very lightly, and _very _quickly. He didn't like getting too close, I could tell, and in no way trusted her yet.

"Rule two." He continued. "Don't look down. Unless you're diving."

"A lot of your rules have exceptions."

"Only the first two. Ready?"

I caught her eye. _Go for it. _Her face, pale underneath her freckles, brightened a little. She looked up at Fang, and he dipped his head a little. She took a deep, deep breath… and leaped.

Fang circled around her, calling out tips and encouragements, but at first he just called, "spread your wings!" We all peered over the edge, save Iggy, and at first Guinevere's plummet was just an incredibly sloppy plummet, but something kicked in and she expanded her snow wings just as Fang had showed her, and she drifted on the wind. Like an eagle, master of the skies, Fang dipped around her calling instructions. Fang loved to fly. I mean it. Like, if he didn't have wings, I feel like he would have absolutely no desire to live. Flying and Fang are practically synonymous. Sometimes I didn't know why he ever touched down.

_Probably just to get more food. _I thought to myself, smiling. Now he was saying: "Rule three: flap."

"Unless you're gliding!" She called, but then she was laughing as she did so and it worked, rising clumsily but steadily getting the hang of it. I almost wanted to go out and fly around with them, feel the breeze in my face, rippling my feathers, but Guinevere would probably get a little overwhelmed, afraid she'd crash into something, so I sat down next to my mom, my head on her shoulder. Her hand came up, rubbing my shoulder as I contented myself with watching Fang fly, the afternoon sun on my face and Mira and Nudge's chatter in my ears.

"Max?"

"Mhm?"

Mom was hesitant. "How did… how did you two to go invisible?"

I yawned, thinking another nap was in order. "Fang used to be able to fade, if he blended into his background. Then he could go completely invisible, remember when we were captured in the desert? I didn't know he could, like, transfer invisibility until he did just now. I don't know if he did either."

I loved how well my mom dealt with weird. "And the manacles?"

"Nudge talked to me about that. She's sort of magnetic, has a thing with metal. But she says it hurt a lot, she wouldn't have been able to do it if we hadn't really needed to escape."

Mom nodded, and didn't speak for a while, but she squeezed my shoulder. "I'm glad you're safe."

I figured nodding and saying, "me, two" would not really be appropriate. But I _was _glad everyone else was. "Thanks for bandaging us all up. But I still don't think you should go home."

Fang was wheeling upward, trying to teach Guinevere how to make the most use of her wing flaps.

"Max…" mom murmured. "I know you worry, but you never seem to remember that Ella and I are always worrying about you and the gang. We'll be safe-and think how much good it would do for Stripes and her kittens."

She had a point there. Had Jeb brought us outside and then left us there, we would have been dead in a week. We didn't know how to survive, what was dangerous, what was safe, where to sleep. But the whitecoats would surely be monitoring their return, and even if they didn't bother my mom and half-sister, having Stripes and co. would be like sending up a sign that read "CAPTURE ME!"

I shook my head. "You don't know them."

"I used to work with them, Max. Remember?" I tried not to, honestly. She tried again. "How about this, Max. You trust me with this. Call the house two days after we get settled at three, and then again at four if we don't answer, then I'll never second-guess your judgment again."

If this was anyone else, Fang, Ella, a politician, I would have shot them down before they could finish, but this was my mom, and that gives her a little something no one else has. And that was the only reason that I even glanced over at Stripes, laying on her back and sunning herself on the warm rocks.

"Stripes?"

"I wouldn't mind going with Dr. Martinez," she offered, rolling around to look at me with those odd gold eyes. "And I like Ella, too. Where are you going, again?"

"Maine." I reminded her. We had discussed options for her and the kittens a while ago, telling her all we could and also just catching up. She and Fang had spent an entire hour arguing, but when it was eventually resolved, they were both smiling. God, what was I going to do with all these people in my life? My circle was always expanding, and it was impossible to take care of all of them. "It's a state. I'm… I'm really glad you're okay, Stripes, and I don't want to leave you again, but we'll be flying across the country and…"

But she was tossing her head and her tail was twitching. "No worries, Bird Girl. Flying isn't really our thing."

"Are you sure?" I clarified, and she nodded in an _uh, yeah_ way. I thought. Swallowed. Tried to nap a little. Watched Fang a little more. And eventually, it was decided. Mom, Ella, Stripes, Mira, Lark, and a lovesick Total would all be staying at the house in Arizona. Guinevere was going to come with us to New England. Once arrived, Ella and mom were going to grab some extra medical supplies, the ever-present laptop, the drawings of doomsday, clothes, all the videos we could carry, and some granola bars. All this would be dropped off in the park where we would be waiting to say goodbye and collect. I tried not to let my ever present worrying get to me and looked back out at Fang and Guin.

XXXXX

"Stripes."

My eyes blinked open, all senses immediately on hyper alert. I was chilly, curled up against the cold rock wall with my wings acting as a sort of blanket. I retracted them as quietly as possible and pricked my ears.

"Stripes!"

"Whazzup?" Stripes grumbled, and thanks to my super duper bird eye vision, I could see her lean forward in a very feline-like stretch. Fang was leaning over her, shaking her shoulder.

"I want to show you something."

Something in his voice caught her attention, and she did not complain as she got to her feet and padded softly after him toward the front of the cave. Just as he reached where the dim light from the moon could highlight his cheek bones, he turned back to look in my direction and nodded. My mouth stretched in a smile, and I hurried to the ledge where Stripes now stood.

"What is it?" She hissed, eyes flicking everywhere. "Dange…" But her cry was cut off as Fang pointed to the heavens above. For those of you who aren't much into stargazing, first off, Fang is a _total _sucker for stars. Get this-the reclusive little nut actually has such a weakness for beauty. He loved sunsets, and dawn, and especially the 7th-15th of every month, when the stars were at their brightest. Here in the desert, so far from any humans, they were completely unclouded, reflecting back in the mirrors of our eyes. "What are they?" She asked.

"Stars." He whispered back, sitting down next to me. She sort of collapsed to her knees, then stretched out on her back so it was easier to look up.

Hear this: I had always known Stripes as chatty. Not so much as Nudge, but her barbed tongue could work wonders. Now, she was speechless. Call me a sappy, love-struck mutant for thinking this (and writing it down, sheesh!) but there really is nothing like looking up at such a sight as endless points of light in a sky as dark as Fang's wings. It's just… a picture of freedom. You never saw the stars in the school, and the moon was just a vague rumor. And lying in the dirt with two of my friends, stargazing, was the definition of heaven.

"It's beautiful." She whispered, tears of joy streaming down her gritty face.

Stripes fell asleep around and soon after, I went flying with Fang. We decided that we would head to AZ the next morning, but for now we were content with the night air, the stars above, and each other's presence. We did not go too far, but certainly out of Angel's mind-touching range.

Guinevere had tired after about an hour and a half of flight lessons and practically collapsed in the cave afterward, but she had seemed genuinely happy for the first time, and nodded a silent thanks to Fang.

"That was a little more exciting than our first lessons." I had teased him. He rolled his eyes. We'd had to practice movement for _hours_ before Jeb let us get on swings and jump when we got to about twenty feet high. I hadn't made the others practice for hours, but not quite two minutes, like Fang had done for Guin.

"Because Jeb was afraid we'd fly into trees and he couldn't catch us."

"Yes, O Fearless One."

Now we were relatively silent, and for a while it was enough to watch him gliding. The flying was great, but I was feeling kind of headache-y, which I attributed to the amount of gas I had inhaled, the length of time I had sat in the sun today, and the minimal amounts of water I had been drinking. But there were things on my mind, things I trusted only Fang to hear. I ducked a little closer, altering my wing beats so I could be close and not whip him.

"Am I doing the right thing, letting mom and the others go home?"

He nodded, and for a moment, didn't speak, so I thought that was that, but he surprised me. "They don't really have anywhere else to go. To us, it may seem crazy, but it's their home. They're not going to up and leave now."

This time, I purposely whapped him. "That didn't answer my question."

He glanced my way, the moon highlighting his angled features. "Right and wrong isn't black and white, Max."

Thanks for that, Confucius. As if I didn't get enough cookie-cutter crap from the Voice. He seemed to sense what I was thinking and sunk to flit under me, so he could look up at my face. I pulled to a stop hovering upright, my arms crossed, hovering in midair.

"Where else would they go?" He asked, voice quiet. I glared, a look that he took to mean what I thought: _I have absolutely no idea._ He moved a little closer, brushing a chunk of hair behind my ear. "I think it's the best option of a series of bad option."

And whether or not he knew it, that was all I had been looking for. But I could not bring myself to move away. He moved his hand to brush my cheek, along my jawline, and I was still reeling from the feeling that we were free and together and alone and, and…

_I'm sorry, Maximum_.

I barely had time to think, _"What?" _when I found out why. Because my wings stopped working. My throat tore as I tried to keep from screaming, and I dropped through the air because someone was taking a cleaver to my skull. Brief flashes of the same type of drawing I had been seeing for some time now came to my knowledge, and then disappeared as abruptly as they came. Somewhere in the background, the Voice was still apologizing and explaining that this picture was bigger than the others, had more content, and that my brain naturally resisted against such invasions. Part of me was thinking, _then it shouldn't be _in _my head! _But most of me was just begging to die so this motherfreakingpain would stopstop_stop. _Let me die. Let me die if this doesn't end.

Fang must have caught me, because I didn't splat on the gritty ground far below. I almost wished he hadn't. But slowly, the pain started to fade away leaving a throbbing ache, and I was myself enough to feel embarrassed for this display. I could feel hot tear tracks down my dirty face, and my stomach rolled. _No! _I commanded, refusing to allow the meager contents of my stomach to come up.

"Voice?" Fang asked roughly, worried beyond what he would let on to. I hadn't had a brain attack since New York.

"I need to draw." I whispered, voice hoarse. "Do you have a pen?"

It was a stupid question. We had nothing but the clothes on our back. He shook his head. "Apocalypse picture?"

I nodded, only half-listening to Fang as the majority of my brain's space was taken up by a, well I guess it was a picture, like he said. But like the Voice said, this was enormous. I could see it as if I was standing in front of a large mural, so intricately detailed that when I honed in on the birds flying near the top of the picture, I could see lines for feathers. Ouch. No wonder it had hurt. I needed to get back to the cave, thinking of how Guinevere had been drawing pictures in the dirt this morning. I could at least sketch it out, and then the others would see it and be able to share their thoughts. I tried to wiggle out of Fang's arms, but for flying midair, he was putting up quite the resistance.

"Fang…" I growled, which would have been so much more satisfying if it hadn't come out as a whimper. He obliged, letting me jump away, but flew very closely. He did not care to give me any more distance as I fell to my knees at the front of the cave, immediately rubbing lines in the dirt in a frantic way. I tried to ignore his eyes, burning holes in the back of my neck, and hoped he wasn't thinking anything along the lines of sending me to an insane asylum. When I had finished as much of the rough outline as I could, given that I was drawing something as detailed as the freaking _Mona_ _Lisa_ or _Primavera_ in _dirt_, I sat back to survey the picture. I was still feeling a little shaky, a wee bit achy, but the major pain had faded, and this was more like an aftershock headache.

"So… huh?"

He just sort of shrugged his shoulder. There was a whole message in there I had to interpret myself. But then he turned to me. "Water? Food? Sleep?"

I had to bite my tongue to keep from admitting how tired I was. Brain attacks can really take it out of a girl. Instead I shook my head and leaned forward. "Those look like fumes, rising from wreckages." I murmured. The drawings were set up in a panel formation. I pointed to the next one. "And then it looks like, in that one, people are getting sick and dying. Same with the trees and stuff near the civilization. Soo…"

"Humans will cause the end of the world."

It was scary how calmly he said this.

"Looks soon." I said, surprising myself because my voice was just as calm as his. "At least, not very far in the future. The buildings aren't, like, Star Wars-y. I guess the poisons we've put in the world are finally going to bite us in the butt. Look-it's infecting water sources."

"Not us." Fang reminded me, gesturing to the little Vs I had used to model birds flying above in all the situations. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, just the other six billion people." I muttered, trying not to let on how much this image disheartened me. Everything I had done so far seemed useless. So yeah, I had snapped at Congress. Big deal. That could be the White House falling into disrepair right there. Germany. Gozen. The UD. Mr. Chu and co. All that seemed to meaningless now, which given that we were fighting for our lives the entire time, is a pretty big thing to say. But somehow, Fang still seemed to recognize what I was thinking, in that creepy I'm-reading-your-mind-though-I'm-not-a-mindreader way of his. Still, I did not protest when he came to sit a little closer by my side and tentatively put his arm around my shoulders. For a moment, I sat frozen, but the sheer hopelessness was incredibly overwhelming, and I allowed my head to sink onto his shoulder and for him to hold me close until the others woke.

"You are aware that Joan of Arc was burned alive at nineteen." Iggy asked once Ella had described the scene in front of us (I had practically killed the Igster, driving him backwards when he took his first steps of the morning and almost brushed away part of my drawing.) I glared, then remembered.

"If we even _make _it to nineteen," I muttered, "you'd be the one to burn me alive. So shut up."

"I'm offended. I wouldn't burn you alive."

"You'd just leave accelerants in the wrong places so when I burn something when trying to feed myself, I accidentally light them on fire and _BOOM! _Bye, Max."

Fang's arm tightened an infinitesimal amount around my shoulder. Iggy just rolled his eyes. "You have a strange habit of speaking of your doom with sarcasm."

_ Because sarcasm is my most-used weapon in the arsenal, thanks, Ig._

"If you two were planning on actually waking us up," the Gasser groaned. "I'd rather you'd have just told us, so we don't have to listen to you."

_Note to self: watch sarcastic and obnoxious tendencies around younger kids._

That was when Guinevere came stumbling over, trying to hide a yawn, and she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes widening. She looked at me, smeared with a little more dirt than usual. "I didn't know you were into Mayan art. But this is still a little dark. Dr. M was certainly right about PTSD."

I ignored the jibe. "You know about Mayan art?"

She frowned, studying the drawing upside down. "Sure. Did a project on them in sixth grade, and on their art last year for Art History. I wasn't aware though that the doomsday prediction was so intense."

Fang and I looked at each other, than back at her, gnawing on some dried fruit. "Prediction?" I asked.

"Yeah. The 2012 prediction." She nodded. "That's what you're drawing, right?"

So, I had to explain that I had never heard of this 2012 prediction, though supposedly there was a movie about it with Nicholas Cage. Frankly, after seeing _National Treasure _and watching him and his groupies run around looking for clues left behind by guys way too busy beating back the British regulars to leave wonky glasses on ancient rooftops and secret messages in the Declaration of Independence, I didn't take any movie with him too seriously. Hearing this, Guin sat down as if settling down for a story, but it was actually pretty brief. Not.

"The ancient Mayans were very intelligent peoples." She began. "They lived in Central America, mostly in the Yucatan. Though, like the ancient Greeks, they operated under their belief system and culture, they were basically divided into different states. Their land had flatlands of limestone, huge volcanic mountains, dangerous waters with bull sharks, rainforests full of poisonous snakes and jaguars and caimans… They had to be quick, intelligent, one with the earth, you know? Anyway, they were very artistic. Lots of terra cotta figures, carvings in stone, paintings on a form of paper, and they were excellent metalsmiths, but resources were scarce, so they mainly made ornaments and stuff."

"Point?"

She narrowed her sky blue eyes. "You want to know Mayan culture, know Mayan culture. I'm not just going to give you the one fact, because you'll still have tons of questions. Patience, my love."

At first I was kind of freaked out at her comment, not to mention her sudden change of voice to a low, gravelly pitch, but then I realized she was mimicking Gollum and managed to crack a smile.

"But it was mostly kings and important guys who commissioned to be immortalized by artists. A lot of their art is showing how the rulers help the civilization, and it's a great tool for archeologists, because it gives a great look at every day Mayan life. My point of this is that they were pretty intelligent, although brutal in warfare. Anyway, they had this, I hesitate to call it a prediction, but an end. Their calendar supposedly ends December 21st, 2012, the winter solstice. This was accepted, just as December 31st is accepted as the last day of our year. But this was literally _the last day_. But hold on-let me finish-recently there's been some controversy over whether or not we got it right when we translated the Mayan calendar to coincide with ours, right? So some guys are saying we could be off by decades, or maybe centuries. Good news? Might not happen for another thousand years. Bad news? Could already be happening. It looks like your, ah, illustration, is leaning more towards the already part."

Educated people. Who needs 'em? Kidding, of course, but still. It took me a minute to digest what she was really saying, that some ancient civilization of guys who held human hearts up-still beating, might I add-to the sky, calling upon their gods to go to war, was telling me in the 21st century that the world was ending. Ig told me about the hearts thing when we had been doing the airshow for the CSM in Mexico then went to a safehouse in the Yucatan. It did not exactly reassure me. But even if this was just a tangent, just a sign from the Voice that I needed to act soon, it was still pretty heavy. I mean, there were buildings that were falling into decay from lack of care, fields growing wild, dead people and strange part-people, like us. Deformed people. Mutated and diseased people. Not to mention the heat that seemed to be displayed in the picture.

_Voice? Any pearls of wisdom? I thought you weren't into the voodoo-man stuff._

_Mayan culture is not related to voodoo._

I rolled my eyes, sighing heavily. _But…?_

_ Think about it, Max. Even if this prediction is false, which it very well could be, it still works as a major warning. We're heating up the earth to temperatures it is not accustomed to. Humans are using science in ways Benjamin Franklin and da Vinci never even dreamed of. We're using resources beyond our capabilities. What do you think this leads to?_

"Disaster." I breathed aloud, and catching everyone's attention, grudgingly shared what the Voice had said.

_So, what? This was just a warning? The world might not even end like this?_

_ You need to see all sides of a story before you can see the ending, Max._

It didn't reply when I asked for clarification. Big surprise there. Not. So it had busted me head up, interrupted my vacation time, for a hoax, maybe true, maybe not prediction a gajillion years old? Not to in any way insult the culture. Guinevere clearly had a lot of respect for the Mayans. But given my whole save the world gig, and the drawing that was supposedly Mayan, I was not feeling very friendly.

And then I remembered things like the Ouija board in AFO Schmidt, in New York. How it had just… _moved_. And how that driver had said, "get off where the fun is!" or something, just like the Voice had said.

"Let's just hope it's a side to the story." I muttered, breaking from Fang and kicking at the dust in a sudden fit, then I raised my voice. "Guys, pack up. We're heading to Arizona." And tried not to let them see how scared I was. I don't know what I had thought of when I had been told I had to save the world. There had been lots of skepticism involved. Some hopelessness and anger, all right. But usually it had been shunted aside. I'd gone to the Arctic. I'd talked with Congress. I'd helped to expose Mr.-let's-pollute-the-ocean-Chu, and kept my Flock alive and mostly together while I was at it. Really _really _saving the world had never seemed much of a deep thought process. But this was like what the Voice had once said about Itex, how we had to take out the bulb, not just the roots, or some mush like that. Totally true mush, but still.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, and helped everyone get ready to leave. I won't bore you with descriptions of the people trafficking to Arizona or the fluttering of my little heart at every _single _noise as we waited by the park benches for mom and Ella.

"This is a bad idea." I whispered to Fang, wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans. "Really bad. We shouldn't even be here. This is not okay."

He let me rant, then walked toward the small pond and started washing his forearms and face in the warm water. I forced my stiff legs to move so I could follow and crouch by his side. Why, again, did I bother confiding in him? Because of his dark eyes, framed by water droplets clinging to his thick lashes, that could somehow reassure me without a word. I glanced away from him to take a look around at the rest of our crew, seeing Nudge with Lark's hand in hers, gently showing him what water felt like to touch. Mira hadn't left Stripes' side, who was trying to be independent, but I could see how scared she was. I smiled at her and gestured her over. She seemed relieved to have something to do.

"Hey." She said, sinking to the sand beside me. Her nails had lengthened to claws, as they did when she was nervous. I didn't blame her.

"You doing okay?" I asked. She flicked my shoulder with her tail, a heavy, reprimanding _thump_. She didn't want anyone questioning her strength in front of her young charges.

"Mira," she said in that hissing way of hers. "Go catch up with Angel. Have her show you how to claw a tree trunk. Feels great."

Mira's eyes were golden pools of trust as she looked up at Stripes, her whiskers quivering, but then nodded and trotted off to see Angel. My heart swelled in pride for Angel who took Mira's hand as gently as I had taken theirs when we had first learned what grass was. Stripes looked after Mira, still anxious, but I clicked my tongue, catching her attention. She was irritable, a little more hissy than usual.

"What?"

I glanced around again. The younger kids were not far at all, but doing their own thing. Gaz was standing stoutly by Iggy's side, who was keeping watch.

"You sure you're… okay. I won't ask again. I swear."

She chuckled. "Knowing you, I doubt that. But you trust these people?"

As far as my trust went, anyway. My family wouldn't turn the feline crosses in. "Yes. They'll take care of you, Stripes. I made up a list of stuff that Jeb-my old whitecoat, the guy who rescued us originally-taught us." His name and our history brought a bitter taste to my mouth. I handed it to her, unfolding it for her. Number one: read. She couldn't. Then there was fighting and defending, I described it as "ultimate, no bars, to-the-death desperado hand combat." Ella and my mom didn't exactly fit this criteria, but they had Google, and YouTube, and they could look into other places. Plus if Ella and mom were learning this to teach to Stripes and the kittens, they would have a better chance. I wrote down some extra notes for them about this, like not having any reservations, hiding pain, using rage, turning the opponent's strength against him. Stripes had held up in the arenas, she knew the basics, but there was always more to learn as far as self-defense and sparring went.

"Cooking." I went on, pointing it out on the list. "Knowing the foods you can and can't eat. How to feed yourself on your own. Iggy's totally saved our butts a million and two times with this."

She nodded. "We're a little easier than you guys are, though. We love raw meat."

My stomach protested against her words, but I didn't let her on to it. "Healing and medicines. There's herbal stuff to learn, and legitimate antiseptic, binding, relocating, drawing out poison, you know the drill." Mom would be great at that. "You should also learn to swim, because your enemies know what you hate, what your weaknesses are. This is your chance to catch up on them without their knowledge, capiche?"

"You worry too much, Max." Stripes butted me with her forehead. "We'll be fine, tell her, Darkie. Will you ever come back?"

No. "Probably." I wanted to. Felt obliged to, to check in and make sure they were safe and that Stripes, Mira, and Lark were adjusting well. But it was dangerous to associate with my family, the kidnapping had already proven that. "Not for a while, though. But here, I have a cell phone that mom's bringing for me, a spare or something. I'll write the number down on a spare sheet of paper or something, and if you ever need anything, anything at all, you promise you'll call?"

"Yes, mom."

I elbowed her, ignoring Fang's smirk. I knew what I sounded like-but I also knew how much I worried about these three. They reminded me so much of us when we had just escaped, completely defenseless to this whole new world, and in need of a caretaker. We'd had our safe house, Jeb… these guys had a house that may or may not be under surveillance and two civilians for trainers and mentors. Ella and mom wouldn't be useless, but… they had never signed on for anything like this. It was my fault they were saddled with keeping three mutants safe and away from the whitecoats. At least Stripes had agreed-with some persuading-to let Ella figure out make-up and dressing techniques to hide the, er, catlike appearances. Apparently this was achievable with baggy, heavy clothing, and some gunk called foundation. I was so nervous about everything, though. I had left Stripes behind once. I was loathe to do it again.

"Incoming!" Called Iggy, and about five minutes later, Ella came wheeling around the corner on her little blue bike, saddled with gear. By the time she had handed Fang his backpack, Ig one full of medicine, me one full of food, and Nudge one full of clean and comfortable clothing, mom had come pedaling into the trees with the videos and drawings, which had taken some scrounging up. I stuffed the drawings into mine, and about half the videos that we hadn't watched yet, and Fang took the other half.

I cleared my throat, gesturing the Flock and very quiet Guinevere over towards me. _Please mom, no tears. We gotta make this quick_. "Um, thanks-"

But I was suddenly engulfed in a huge hug by my mother and trying to squelch down tears and not make a huge fool of myself, but it was a pretty emotional thing all around with lots of hugs for everybody, and even Fang allowed it. He stood stiff as a board, I'll give you, but when my mother pulled back and said, "are you sure you don't want an X-ray of your leg? It would take five minutes in my office-" and he shook his head, he was kind of smiling. He nodded to her, a sign of respect.

"Thanks for everything, Dr. M." He said, and she nodded, tears spilling over her cheeks. Then Ella was next, plowing into him as she ran from the Gasman as if afraid we would disappear before she could hug us all, and she whispered something to him that made his face immediately shut down as he tried to hide some emotion or other, but she pulled back and tapped his shoulder.

"No foolish heroics now." She tried to laugh, but was almost crying. "If anything, we definitely need to all meet up for Christmas. How great would that be? We've never had a real holiday together."

Yeah, A Very Mutant Christmas. Sounds great. But I tried to smile for her hopeful, naïve sake. I told her about the note I'd given Stripes.

"And you should reread my books," I said fiercely, holding her tight. "Try to get a grip on what to teach them, and teach yourselves, and-"

"Reread?" She repeated, her brown eyes puzzled. "I, uh, haven't read them. Nothing personal."

She thought I was insulted. "No, no, no! Sorry," I managed a shaky laugh. "I just, you know, assumed. Since you said Mei and your friends and big fans. And I thought you'd want to…"

"I don't want to invade your privacy." She blinked. "But if it would give you peace of mind, I will. Celine has them all. I can borrow them if she doesn't kill me, maybe learn something. They'll be so worried…"

"Yeah, and snipe Mei's backpack for me while you're at it." Iggy said, giving her a hug that lifted her into the air. "I love that color!"

Ella choked, now visibly crying, and pressed her face into Iggy's shirt. He seemed a little surprised, a little pleased, but very comforting, tentatively stroking her dark hair. Something about Fang caught my eye, and I glanced away from Guinevere scratching Lark's ears and my mother hugging Angel and the Gasman and Ella and Iggy pretending that they never had to let go to see Fang trying not to smile.

"Promise you'll be careful?" She whispered.

"I-yeah. Of course. Keep that lacrosse stick nearby." He murmured, and he sounded very close to tears himself. Very, very reluctantly, they pulled away, and even then, looked at each other (or in the general direction, in Iggy's case) before mom took Ella's hand, and they slowly backed away. Then Stripes came forward and hugged each of us.

"I'll take care of them." She whispered just loud enough for us to hear. She squeezed my hand, her big eyes heavy with emotion. "These claws aren't totally useless. You… you stay safe. See you, Darkie. Later, Igster. Take care of each other." And then in another burst, Ella ran over and scrawled her phone number on Guin's hand.

"You're normal." She said. "Put my name in your phone book or something, 'k? We'll talk Johnney Depp."

Guinevere laughed, scrawling something on Ella's hand with El's pen. "Will do. Now, this is the day you will always remember as the day you _almost-_"

"Caught Captain Jack Sparrow." They finished together, laughing and sniffing and hugging. I blinked and cleared my throat again, then made us leave before anything worse could happen, like the arrival of EMs or I really started to cry.

Needless to say, we were all a little sad lifting out of there. Nudge, Angel, and Guinevere were all sniffing for a good few miles before they finally got under control and the high altitudes and wind brought their hearts up again.

"They'll be okay." Fang told me softly before falling back towards his charge. "Yo-Guin. Keep your arms by your sides and you'll fly much faster."

"Unless…"

"Unless you want to fly slower."

I smiled to myself. Maybe everything _would_ be okay, for a while anyway.


	60. Adventures Ahead

**Chapter Sixty**

** I edited chapters 37 and 38 (the one prior to and including the government party) just because I'm a nitpicking hen, so if you guys ever get an update but there are no new chapters, chances are I'm fixing/adding to earlier ones. Sorry! But I hope you guys check 'em out.**

** And for those of you that don't know, I have another story up on Fanfiction called "Letters" and it's a flock seperation fic (I know, I know, I usually don't like them either) but it's not dark/emo/angsty. Max and Fang keep in touch (slash maybe realize their feelings for each other? I'm such a Fax fan) through letters, the blog, post cards, and occasional trips. I don't want to spend too much time summarizing because this chapter took forever to write, but anyway, I hope you check it out. (Thanks, IwriteUread!)**

**Reviewers…**

**The Dark Queen of Insanity-a Very Mutant Christmas? Perhaps I'll try it sometime. Like next winter. Haha, I'm ready for SUMMER! Or just being allowed to be outside and free in spring, which I also love. But I digress. Thank you for reading, reviewing, and generally just being awesome.**

**Marisac-thank you! I'm glad you like Stripes and Mira, I spent some time on those little suckers. And I'm workin' on the Eggy, don't worry. I don't know how many more chapters, but the plan is to get Guin to her house, end, then have a sequel where they actually save the world. I'm hoping.**

**turtlelover0511-as per usual, you are the subject of my extreme gratitude. Don't worry; you haven't seen the last of Stripes and crew. I like writing about them too much. Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about the prediction myself, but I thought it was good for the Voice to point out that the world has been expected to end for a long time. Plus the pictures are major motivation, ha. Thank you again, and I'm so sorry this took forever to write!**

**XxWishingForWingsxX-thank you! I'm trying to get more Eggy in there-glad you like it.**

**Serein Q-goodbyes are tough. I myself am awful at them. Don't worry, Stripes and crew will make a reappearance. I love those characters too much to get ride of them, haha. And I'm glad you liked the Fang teaching Guin to fly scene, I was hoping that'd get some laughs. Thank you so much, and they didn't let you watch movies while you were in the hospital? Criminal. My new story is up with quite a few chapters, so I hope you like it/check it out!**

**aries4me-EEP! –ducks from thrown rotten food- I'm trying to get the fax in there. I'm just as much a fan; I'm just having some writing troubles. Thanks for reviewing though. As for over? I'm thinking they'll bring Guin home, then maybe a sequel if you're interested in that.**

**xXjaziXx-since you're just on chap 26 at the time of review, I guess I should PM you this message anyway (which I will do if my ride to my game doesn't come in the next five minutes) but thanks for the review and critique! I've been going back to try to edit some earlier chapters because like you said, there are quite a few holes/gaps in the storyline and places I could improve. I'm working on the Fax, and thanks again!**

**skullduggery-I am very glad that you liked it, and I always try to respond to reviewers. You guys make my day. Thank you!**

**IwriteUread-ahh! Your reviews make me a little happier inside. I'm so glad you're liking Letters and this story, and I got your PM. I totally agree with you on the front that in **_**Fang**_**, their whole family-stay-together system just fell apart. Damn ghost writers. And I'm waiting for those gaps (like the tunnel under the school? Hello?) to be filled in! Thanks again for reading!**

**Lulu-thank you! I try to get as much info about what I'm writing about as possible so that it seems realistic. Guin and Stripes are definitely going to be big characters, so don't worry about them. And Ella's friends are coming back as well, I thought of you while writing this chapter, and they'll be in some more as well. I'm working on the fax! Thank you and sorry for the wait!**

**Once again, universal thank you to everyone who reads/reviews/favorites. You all make my day!**

**XXXXX**

"Yo, Max."

My eyes blinked open in an instant, and for a moment, I was struck with the typical where-the-h-am-I feeling you get when you live what my Flock and I did. The answer? A lean spruce, maybe fifty feet up above the ground. It was dark, but the night had that feeling that dawn was not far off. It was Iggy's watch, but Fang was (typical) clicking away on his computer. I glanced at our blind guard, but he was okay, so I shimmied out away from the trunk of the tree to get a closer look at the screen. Fang angled it toward me, open to his email. The screen was bright in the dim light, and the date was maybe two weeks ago, from what I could gather.

_Hey, Fang._ It began._ My name is Celine, I don't know if you'll remember me, but I certainly remember you and the flock. DO NOT DELETE THIS EMAIL. Sorry. Admittedly, that sentence was kind of creepy but I need you to read this all the way through. It's really important. When I met you, you were wearing a black shirt and some jean cut offs. Your "sister" and amazing track superstar was wearing one of Ella's old t-shirts, a tie-dye that she made at my twelfth birthday party. I was wearing a lacrosse uniform, as was Ella, and two of our other close friends, Mei and Belle. I didn't notice them at the time, but I assume that Ella's other "cousins" were the rest of the flock, sitting on the bleachers._

_ Yeah. I figured it out. Please don't insult my intelligence and try to deny it. But the reason I'm emailing is that you're all-Ella, Dr. M, and her "cousins"-missing. We saw you guys, then Ella didn't show up to school or practice for about a week. I don't know if you guys took off before this happened, but if you did and you're safe, I think Ella and Dr. M are in trouble. Mei, Belle, and I went to Ella's today and there was nothing, and Magnolia was abandoned in the backyard, really dehydrated. The car was there, and it looked like everyone had just left the house for a walk or something, but had never made it back._

_ And if you don't respond to this email? I guess either you're swamped or you've been caught, too. We didn't mean to snoop, really, but we've been really worried about Ella. She and her mom disappeared literally without a trace. So there were these videos in the TV room, and we picked one up, and Belle was really curious and put one video in. There was… well, it was you guys. When you were younger. Again, sorry to freak you out. Blow your cover. Etcetera. We're all huge fans, and we're not telling anyone what we know. We left real quick after that, trying to think like Max does in the books and that the house may be under surveillance or something, so we-I'm rambling. Point is-PLEASE EMAIL ME BACK. I MEAN IT. I'm really worried about my friend, her mother, and you guys. You're kinda my heroes. So I would be freaking out in excitement if I realized I met you under any different circumstances. _

_ Crap-gotta go. My mother will kill me if she finds out I'm awake at this hour, but-PLEASE. Stay safe._

_ Thanks._

_ -Celine, Mei, and Belle; Ella's friends from Mesa Middle High School_

"Woah." I murmured, thinking back to the leggy blond who, now that I had a name, I could fit to a face. She and Mei, I think, had been the ones to practically _kill _me when I got out of mom's car at the lacrosse game. Belle had been the shy one who Iggy and I had caught a ride home with after El's practice when Jose and Dwayne were acting jerkier than normal. Fang nodded, then opened another window. The nested original message, from him to Ella, simply read, _Do you trust Celine, Mei, and Belle with your life?_

The reply was even more basic and had been sent soon after she had arrived home. _Yes._

I looked at him, his dark eyes shining with the glow from the computer screen. "You gonna reply?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow. "I… I think you should." I said. "I mean, they already know. And I think they care a lot about Ella. I don't think they could use any information you give to them by replying that they don't already know."

For a moment, he held my eyes, and then he nodded again and began clicking. I leaned against his shoulder, feeling him breathe, hearing his heartbeat, and only sitting up once he shifted to show me his carefully worded message.

_Celine, Mei, and Belle-_

_ If it is truly you guys who sent me the email, Ella has a great group of friends. If you're imposters, there's nothing you could get out of this note anyway. Again, if you guys are real, sorry for the lack of info. Judging from your reaction to our story, I bet you know why we have to be so cautious._

_ I'd say I'm sorry for being so late in this reply, but, congratulations, Sherlock, you were right. We were in a bit of a tight spot for a while there, but we're livin' large again, ready to take on the world, fly to distant states, and hit the nearest Dunkin' Donuts as soon as they open. Ella and her mom were also, unfortunately, caught up in this latest adventure. If Max's notebooks are anything to go by, she's already getting this all down for the next installment. It was a little dicey for a while, but we did our best to keep them safe. Once we escaped and kicked a little whitecoat butt, we parted ways with the Martinez's. They should be safe now, though Ella has some explaining to do to her three younger cousins. They've never seen much of the world, and coming to the Martinez's was a big step for them, but the foster homes haven't been working out and Dr. M just found out about these relations. Something like a sister's ex's kids or something. Anyway, I bet you could head on over and teach 'em a thing or two._

It was clever. If this note somehow did get into the wrong hands, the story was completely plausible. And if it fell into the right ones? Maybe the trio could help.

_We're gonna be gone a while. But keep an eye on the M's for us, will you? I-we-hold you to your word. Please do not mention anything about any of this to anyone. Thanks._

_ Another note: Mei, Iggy l-o-v-e-s your backpack, the, I quote, "super freaking awesome caution tape yellow bag of wonder." Unfortunately, this color scheme doesn't really fit in with our lifestyle, but I'd hide it if we ever cross paths again so you don't find it missing. Not that Max wouldn't kill him, but given the amounts of explosives he manages to create, I don't think her threats are of the highest concern of his. And say hi to Ella for him._

_ Thanks again. Fly on._

_ -Fang_

_P.S. Max is reading over my shoulder, and she also asks you guys to keep an eye out for those jerks, Jose and Dwayne? Their gang? Yeah, she's a nitpicking mother hen, but her birdish tendencies have saved our wings a million and one times, so take it into consideration. Plus they seem to have it in for Ella. But you three-stay safe. I hate to say this, but our world is a tough one, especially when you can't fly away when things get extra tough, so be careful. Max also says hi. And that she's not a nitpicking mother hen. But this is my email. So there._

_ Later._

"Am not." I was still muttering, leaning my back down against the hefty branch to get some Zs while I could. Fang just made a derisive noise in the back of his throat and packed the computer away, and then he, too, made an attempt to sleep. Note. Attempt. Memories from our latest living nightmare plagued my vision behind closed eyelids, and sleep was a long, long way off. At least I didn't have to deal with crusty eyelids when light finally tinged the horizons and I fluttered around to each member of our little party and nudged the buggers out of their resting places.

"Up and at 'em!" I called, tugging on Nudge's foot and nudging Gaz's shoulder. "New day! Places to go, people to see!"

"Like law enforcement? Judging by previous adventures." Iggy grumbled, but he began to sightlessly pull food items out of a backpack. I grabbed the nearest projectile-a pine cone-and threw it at his head. He ducked just in time and then yawned pointedly. I had a "pick-your-battles" moment before going for Round Two and shaking Angel's shoulders. I knew they were exhausted, I was to, and in no way had we recovered completely, but we needed to get back to the whole running-for-our-lives business before we were killed or captured-again.

"How about an employee at a fast food restaurant?" Asked Nudge around a yawn. "Since, if we see an employee, we'll probably see some food, too, meaning we can probably-" she broke off as Iggy aimed an energy bar right at her mouth, and it smacked into her face. For a moment, she was torn between anger and hunger, but her stomach won over and she tore into it. It was one of those moments when I _sooo _wished Iggy could see my glare.

"So what's the plan?" Angel asked as we gained altitude before the sun could get too high in the sky.

"We head northeast." I said, angling my wings to catch a downdraft. "Bring Guinevere home, right?"

"It would be appreciated." She muttered, trying not to look down too often. "Though I'll have some major explaining to do. Dad's gonna kill me."

"Uh, why?" Iggy voiced his confusion. "Shouldn't he be glad you're safe?"

"He will be. Secretly. But I can hardly give him all the details, am I right? So I'll say that someone grabbed me at the mall, that he had a mask on the whole time, so they don't interrogate me. Then when I escaped somewhere in… South Carolina, I started to head back by myself. He will ask why I didn't go to the police. I'll say I didn't feel up to trusting anyone, so I walked and dumpster dived the whole way. He won't be able to disprove this, I love to run, but he'll be angry that I didn't get back sooner. He'll say something stupid like, 'Next time this happens Char, you better act rationally! Why can't you be more like your brother and get your head out of the clouds! Your mother and I have been worried out of our minds while you've been lollygagging up the east coast!' Yeah. It'll be great."

"Char?" Nudge flew over. "Is that your real name? Like, we've been calling you Guinevere because Max has, but that obviously can't be the name you were born with. Although it's a pretty cool name. I wouldn't mind being called Guinevere."

"Char is a nickname." Guin muttered, looking flustered that she had let this slip, and from the tone of her voice, clearly was unwilling to elaborate. "Charlotte Fredrickson."

"You don't seem like a space cadet to me." Said Angel kindly. "Why does your dad say stuff like that?"

"Ang," I murmured, "maybe she'd rather not-"

"It's fine!" Guin/Char barked, then looked down again, ashamed that she had let her temper go or something. It clearly wasn't fine, but I think she was afraid of offending us or seeming too secretive or weak or something. "I'm an artist, okay? That's what I do. I draw. My older brother is a businessman, makes the big bucks. Dad wants me to get a desk like Darren or be a lawyer like him. He says that the world has no place for dreamers… Mom is a physical therapist and wants me to go to Harvard, too. My younger brother, Caleb, told me he wants to be a musician, but he can't tell mom and dad or they'll take away his guitar. The only reason they let him take lessons is because studies say that musical performance can help with academics or something. They're not bad parents," she said quickly, noticing our expressions. "Just really demanding. They want us to do well and be successful, and whenever they see a musician or someone selling art at a craft fair, they always mutter 'starving artist' under their breath and walk away. So yeah. That's my tragic story. Feel free to change the subject."

"How old's Caleb?" Asked Nudge.

Guinevere clenched her teeth. "Nine. He plays Robin Hood in the woods and swordfights with invisible pirates and writes songs about freedom and imagination and summer."

"Is he the one the whitecoats threatened?" Angel asked sadly. "To get you to do what they wanted? Train? That's what they were always thinking around you."

"Yeah. He is." She replied in an odd voice. "But what do you mean? What were they thinking around me?"

"They need a hero." Angel told her. "Someone for their movement to save the world to stand behind. They wanted Max, but she's too hardheaded, so they want someone who grew up normal, then they'd train that person up, like they did to you, and then change your DNA so you can be superior, too. Then, when they begin their genocide, you can be the leader, you know? Oh, Max, look down there, horses!"

"What's genocide?" Asked the Gasman, hocking a spitball at some poor farmer down below.

"Intentional destruction of a people." Fang told him. "Like the Holocaust or Rwanda in 1994."

"Where's Rwanda? What happened?"

"Lots of people died." He said shortly, watching me. I wondered if it was something Silverman had taught to him.

_Voice?_

Nada.

"Hey, Ang?" I caught her attention, flapping a bit to catch up with her. "Who do the whitecoats want to kill?"

"All the corporates who are messing the world up with production." She said. "And then the smart people, because they're going to brainwash the rest of the people they leave alive, feed 'em fake information, and they don't want any educated people to tell the truth. Like, they're going to play off as God or something."

"Is Itex the leader?" Asked Iggy.

"Nope. They've got lots of allies. Schools and Itexes and big corporations with lots more money and useful stuff. I don't know who's ruling the whole thing. I don't even know if there could just be one person at the head of the production. It'd be a lot to deal with."

Mentally, I swore a lot. Then I came to my senses and reminded myself that we needed a plan, which is where, ahem, I would come in.

"We need to land ASAP." I announced to my guys. "Watch some videos. Take copious notes. Angel, I need you to write down anything you remember that may be of importance, okay? And Guin? You're going to need to tell us everything that they did, said to you. Then we'll form a plan of action, capiche?"

The brunette nodded grimly and looked to Fang for guidance as we angled downward toward a promising forest at the edge of a hustlin' bustling' metropolis, where hopefully we could find a Motel 6 or something with a television and lots of comfort food. It was pretty easy, and we split up (Fang, Ig, Angel, and Gazzy to a sketchy next door pizza place, where they ordered three double cheeses, and Nudge, Guin, and I went to an even weirder Asian restaurant where we got just about two of everything, then we hit up a 7-11 where I grabbed all the chocolate or dimly-chocolate-related candy bars and paid like thirty bucks for them. It was a ton of food, but we were in for a long night after a longer day of flying and that whole School ordeal we were still recovering from. And I was pretty sure I would eat about half of the chocolates, so there you go. Fang did give me a half-amused raise of the eyebrows when he saw the bags, though. I kicked him.

"My mother would die if she saw this." Guin croaked as she folded down on the floor of our room among the flood of food. "I'm with a group of underage children without adult supervision in a motel in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention the amount of sodium in this delicious fried rice. Is there another container? How am I eating so much?"

"The other veggie's on the left." I pointed around a mouthful of Mush Shu. "Right is pork, then I think the other one is chicken. Your metabolism is higher now. You need calories."

"And here are your dumplings!" Said Nudge, pushing the container towards her. "I think you have my mushroom ones."

They swapped. Vegetarians. Psh. I caught Fang's eye, and we both smirked. He took another slice.

"Real food!" Moaned the Gasman. "But I think I should clear out when we finish, given my nature... Yo-can I have another chocolate bar?"

I debated between saving them, saying we needed real food first, but this fast food was probably just as artery clogging as any chocolate bar. An hour later, Angel was finishing off her General Tso's chicken, Nudge and Iggy were squabbling over the last slice of pizza, and the chocolate was gone. Even the psycho vegetarian had eaten her fill.

"Gods." She moaned, falling onto her back. "I'm stuffed. That was amazing."

"I think don't think the janitors will be very pleased," Nudge commented, looking at our mess. "But I could totally go for some more steamed broccoli. Never thought I'd say it. And Gaz-don't you dare-leave this room now!"

Gaz left before we could kill him. We all heard his, er, expulsion in the hallway, and his cackle as some other guest made use of some excellent swear words, then he darted back in.

"Better out than in, I always say!" He cackled, immensely pleased with himself. "We watching movies now?"

"Movies?" Asked Guin. "What do you mean?"

I left Nudge to explain as I fished out our video collection, picking one out at random. Thank God the room had a VCR player-not many did these days.

"So keep on the lookout for any message," I said. "The Voice told me that we're supposed to learn something from the videos that will help with the whole saving the world gig."

"Okay, Max!" Chirped Nudge. "I bet we'll get the message soon, since we've seen so many by now. Don't you think?"

Not really, in all honesty. "Sure."

The first video we ground through was a little painful, given our recent experiences. Baby Angel and I had been stuffed into the same too-small cage, and she was wailing at the top of her baby birdkid lungs. I was holding her tightly, rubbing her back, playing with her toes, trying anything to get the emaciated child to be quiet. A few moments after this, Fang was rolled in through the doors. Usually he would come back furious, still battling despite whatever condition he was in after the whitecoats toyed with him. But I remembered these instances, when Silverman would take him away for days at a time and he would come back hunkered over, wordless, and generally unresponsive. On screen, my face was conflicted, but concern for my old friend won over and I put Angel on the ground, reaching through the bars of my cage and trying to touch him.

"Fang?" I asked. "What…" I trailed off, seeing that, as usual, there would be no words. However, he did eye the baby and look back at me. He was himself enough to be irritated at the sobbing noise.

"The whitecoats dropped her off an hour or two ago," I explained, "along with the one in Iggy's cage. I don't… I don't know what to do with them. Why they're here. But they've got wings, too. Stubby things."

My heart broke, having to rewatch Fang fall into complete apathetic mode for the millionth time. He had checked in with me, and did not even spare a glance at Nudge, Iggy, or the sickly Gasman, curled in a corner as far from Ig as he could get. It was tear-jerking, looking at these kids, not even five, who were as malnourished as you could get without dying. Their skin was the sickly yellow of never seeing the sun, and bruised from the slightest bump. In the motel room, Nudge sniffled.

Angel took a deep breath as I picked her up again, shushing and making funny sounds, talking to her as if this would help, but the crying started again as soon as she got over the initial shock. I wondered how often she had been touched gently prior to meeting us.

"It's not like this outside!" I told her, straining to remember the stories Jeb had told me. They were gold tablets, shiny with use, from the amount of time I spent repeating them first to Fang, then to Iggy and the others. Jeb would take me away for private sessions, and sometime between the testing and the racing and the needles, he would tell me about the world beyond the school. But with Angel's crying, I couldn't concentrate, couldn't remember, couldn't calm her. "There's… birdsong! And it's the most beautiful sound in the world, like…" I paused, thinking of something beautiful I could compare the music to. We had never heard music before, and so to demonstrate what birdsong was, Jeb had sang me a folk song or something.

"_By yon bonnie banks, and by yon bonnie braes," _I murmured, "_where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond…" _Oh yeah. Definitely a folk song. Probably from Scotland. But the tune was pretty, it was the only song I knew, and Angel was beginning to quiet. I didn't really know what the song meant, something about you taking the high road and me taking the low road and getting to Scotland before this mysterious "you" and then talking about how two true loves would never meet again. This was why I didn't sing folk songs. Ah, well. It did, however, manage to quiet baby Angel. Eventually, I rocked her into an uneasy sleep. Iggy was still sitting in the corner, no longer trying to help out the younger Gazzy, who had stopped twitching to listen to my song.

"Max?" Fang murmured, voice cracking with disuse. I looked up from Angel's fair curls, which I had been finger combing, and tried to smile at him. "Could you… tell us about the sky again?"

"Of course." I whispered, and proceeded to do my best.

Later that night (or early that morning?) when we finished the video and I insisted that we try to get a little sleep, I propped open the window and sat in the frame, falling into my zenlike watch mode. It was so quiet at night, even with the nearby highway. The morning sun would bring a whole new day of flying, , trying to find food, trying to keep us safe, and trying to unravel the mystery of the world. I wasn't sure if I was entirely ready for it. Sometimes I was ready to just quit trying. Truth be told, I just wanted another shower, some Tylenol, and to sleep for a week. But you can't do that when you're leader-you have to be the one yanking everyone else out of bed when in truth you just want to fall back into it.

"Hey."

I jumped, ready to take off, but as usual, it was just Fang. Typical. The kid is just as exhausted as I am and he doesn't even sleep.

"Hey." I smiled, making room for him to sit next to me. It was a clear night, maybe the fourteenth, fifteenth, the time of month when the stars always shine brighter. The celestial light highlighted Fang's gaunt face, his angular features even moreso thanks to the starvation and abuse we had so recently endured. It cast a long cut across his eye into relief, the makings of yet another scar. He leaned against the frame of the window, clearly spent.

"What?" I teased. "Not creeping up on me for a surprise midnight fly?"

He almost smiled, glancing at me. "Not tonight. Guess we're on ultra alert again."

I nodded. "Speaking of which, aren't you tired?"

A shrug. I narrowed my eyes. He conceded, nodding. "The question is, when are we not tired, Max? I'll sleep when I'm dead. There are other things I'd rather be doing."

I grinned, nudging his shoulder with mine. "Oh? Like what?"

"Maybe staying up to stargaze with you?" I could see his lopsided smile twitch into existence, and then he turned to look at me, a teasing light in his eyes. "That is, if there's nothing better on TV."

I couldn't help it. I snickered, placing my head on his bony shoulder all the same. "Good thing we don't have cable in here, then."

He pressed his lips to my forehead, allowing them to linger for a moment before turning away. "I can keep watch, you know." He offered. "Seeing as I'm an insomniac and you're not."

I didn't grant that a response and stayed awake well through the end of what was my watch until I could justify allowing my eyelids to drift shut.

"Fang?" I whispered, tongue thick with the late hour. "We're going to have to talk about what happened. At the School."

He nodded, touching his head to mine. "I know."

"Do you think Guinevere-Charlotte-can be trusted?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Eventually."

"But was I right to let her stay with us? She can fly now. She could fly home or something, you know?"

"Max," he addressed me, voice croaking with weariness. "First, try to stop worrying. You need at least try to sleep so you have enough energy to worry all throughout tomorrow. Second, I find that keeping your friends close but your enemies closer is a good rule of thumb. Third, because I think you need to hear this, we'll make it through. We always have. So get some rest."

Usually, I didn't like anyone telling me that sleep was a useful tool and that I should get more of it. However, maybe because of this very reason, I didn't feel much up to protesting. Plus, falling asleep on Fang's sharp but warm shoulder was much more appealing than stressing over what could happen.

_What comes will come, Max. _Said my Voice. _And you need to be ready when it does. Listen to Fang and get some sleep._

And just like that, I was out.


End file.
